


Entropy

by Experiment282



Series: Realmverse [3]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Gen, Mindfuck, Realmverse, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2018-12-12 19:32:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 99,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11743698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Experiment282/pseuds/Experiment282
Summary: Sonic questions himself with his relationship with Amy Rose after a series of dreams involving Amy look-a-likes lead him down a dangerous path to uncover an ancient conspiracy. Mainly SonAmy, but bits of ShadAmy, VecVan, CharmCream, various ships.





	1. A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost from my ff.net account.

"SHE WHO SOWS SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION, ARISING FROM THE ABYSS OF THE PIT TO CLAIM HER WORLD"

Entropy

Chapter 1 A Dream

How far does a field span? A field sacrifices all its path to stay bare and protect its lush scenery. It lays nothing amongst its grass, trees and gardens. Albeit with the chaos that ensues it will ensure an existing future. Bearing in mind those who seek to destroy and those who seek to border it. Those of the Free and those of the constrained. But at what point does freedom become chaos?

Sonic the Hedgehog runs across these fields in his everlasting travels. A world to call his own with bountiful plains that drive his will. Nay does a thought in his spiky head speak of troubles and doubt. He lets the winds guide him to where ever a inner world is found. His speeding ways, notable and flexible. To see him run...and run...and run...was an honour. World renowned and blessed. Disliked by some for reasons that should be obvious. His chaotic ways, notorious and booming. To see him run...and run...and run...was a bit destructive. His idealism of a world of inbuilt freedom without chaos is a long-shot. The Blue dude with the 'tude was a piece of reverse. Order with Chaos. In his triumphs became legendary. Voluntary or assigned job? Didn't matter. He'd save the day regardless. Otherwise he'll always be running...and running...and running.

Hills, trees, rivers...lakes and whatnot. Flora and fauna. The way it should be. Pristine and untouched by consumerist hands. He caught glimpses of these wondrous things in split seconds as he passed them. Speeding past one particular hill he noticed, were a garden of flowers. Red in colour. Taking a super-speed sniff, he gathered that they had be roses. He stopped to a immediate halt and quickly ran towards them. He knelt down on one knee before one tall rose and took a whiff.

He smiled at the just gorgeous and breath taking garden and wondered who could have planted them.

"Do you like the colour red?"

Sonic quickly stopped. The voice was low and monotone, but still could sorta be recognized.

He stood up and turned around. Before him stood a pink headed hedgehog. He prepared to flee at in an instant, his face contorted at the sight of the girl before him. But before he could run, he noticed something odd. On her face was no smile, but a dull expression. On her body did she not wear her usual red dress, boots and headband, but a strawed weaved hat with a blue flower. She also wore a long baby blue dress with white cardigan and sandals. In her grasped hands was a picnic basket.

"Wait, don't tell me I agreed to have a picnic with you?" He asked. The girl's head tilted as she looked at the garden of roses, seemingly ignoring him. "These are the rare Abbadonia Roses. They only grow where there the air is fresh and the sun shines down." She said again dull, as if robotic.

"These Roses are Red. Their thorns are blue."

Sonic scratched his head. "Uhh...isn't it Roses are Red, Violets are Blue?" He asked.

She ignored him again and knelt beside one of the taller roses. "These Thorns protect the roses from harm. Nonetheless they always smell good."

Sonic looked behind him briefly as a gust a wind suddenly shifted past. Turning back he noticed the girl was gone. "What...the..."

He looked behind him again, then in front. Spinning around didn't help either. She had disappeared completely. He ran around the Garden. Nope. She wasn't anywhere. He put his hand over his eyes to scan around the perimeters. He shrugged his shoulders and now believed he had been seeing things.

Heading in the direction, Sonic bumped into something else. Taking a quick look, it was a charcoal colour with mystic wavy runes with embers entering through small cracks, seeing spiky shoulder pads and arms with paws extending from them as well a belt with silver curved spikes at the hips with blackened legs and lower paws, alongside gigantic seared wings. He stood back seeing a head of fire. The body just seemed to float in front of him. Taking a defensive stance, The creature rose up, extending its left arm and protruding claws.

Sonic again sniffed the air. "I smell sulfur..." He commented. The sky turned blood red, as fire and brimstone raised from the once fresh earth. Sonic looked down to see holes appearing around him.

The creature raised both arms as beasts hopped and clawed out of the pits.

Sonic's eyes went wide as they came out in all different shapes and sizes but all of terrifying appearances and pouring lava blood out of every orifice. "These guys don't look pretty friendly." He said, ramming his fist in his palm. "Time for me to kick some demonic butt!"

He jumped into the air and immediately rolled into a ball, homing in on the demons, many that had either one to twenty eyes or limbs. One was made of spikes, except for one area and was rolling around. Sonic simply rolled into a spin ball and rammed himself into the spiky demons bare face, pushing back into the pit from hence it came. Hearing a bated breath behind him, Sonic leaped and back-flipped to find himself behind a dog like demon with eight legs. The dog growls thundered through Sonic's chest, though he did not fear it. "Hey doggy! Wanna play fetch?" He said, violently ripping the whip like tail on it's back, splattering it's lava blood everywhere and causing it to yelp. Sonic used the tail as a rope and quickly wrapped it around the beast. "Gotcha! Now it's time to put you down!"

Sonic began swirled the dog around in circles and gathered momentum, eventually raising it up into the air. Finally having enough momentous strength, Sonic threw the beast with such brute force into the pits. He jumped and Spin balled his way through each demon, making sure each was back in their holes. He wiped his face, then looking at the lava blood on the back of his hand. Obviously it was hot, but strangely it wasn't hurting his hand.

"Only you can take the heat." Said a sultry voice as they clapped. "Bravo."

Sonic looked at the demon which was still alive. She was indeed curvaceous with her mystical runes and fiery head. Even brighter eyes sneered at Sonic as she pulled out a sword from behind her, which the blade appeared to be made out of Crawlfangs and Mephbones, twisted and contorted with the base and handle concealing a crimson jewel in a one eye socket demon skull. Sonic stood back.

"Who ever you are, I can tell you're up to no good." He stated. "Such is the obvious Mr. Thorn." She snarled as she floated towards him. He began walking backwards, almost slipping, but then regaining his balance. He faced behind him, seeing the pits had connected and now the pits of pure abyss created a moat around the small isle of thick dead dirt. Sonic faced back to the creature, who held out the sword in her hands, as if giving it to him.

"I've already done swords. Not everyone was pleased with that gimmick." He mocked.

"But Mr. Thorn, it's not for you. Just hold it." She said. She turned the swords handle towards Sonic who took one glimpse at it. The Crimson Jewel in the middle burst, and out appeared a bloodshot green eye. Sonic took a look at the handle, then back at the creature who's grin was considered of mercury. Sonic wasn't too sure about this. It was all too suspicious to him. He reached out to the handle and grabbed it. He had no choice. He knew he wasn't going to get out of there if he didn't.

Squish

Sonic looked at the end of the sword. He froze as the creature had pushed herself into the sword.

His eyes dove towards her abdomen, as her lava blood seeped through the self-inflicted wound.

"Sonic..." Said a wispy voice. Sonic's eye's zoomed back up. The creature's head had somehow changed back into a familiar pink head, tears flowing from it's eyes.

"AMY!"

\- - - - 

Sonic shot up. He batted his eyes a few times to awaken properly. His heart was pounding. He looked around him to gather on where he was. He lifted his head upwards to see the night sky, and the hardened ground he was laying was a tree trunk on a cold winters night as snow fluttered down from above.

"That...was just a dream?" He mumbled as he rubbed his eyes and pondered. What kind of dream was that? He shook it off as some horrible nightmare. His stare traversing the area, he was atop of a pine tree situated on the outskirts of Station Square. Flicking the bouts of snowflakes off him he was off in a hunch, jumping off the branch onto the ground below. Suddenly the back of his skull was itchy, so he reached through his fur and felt something thin and rough and grabbed it. Pulling it out of his fur, it was a piece of paper. An invitation to Cream's birthday. Looking at the time and date, he realized he was late. Not that it was anything new to his cause. He often skipped boring parties because they were too slow. But this was Cream. She was still young, prompting Sonic to believe she would be rather upset if he didn't end up showing up. He fled off towards the direction of her house...

But he couldn't shake off that eery feeling. That dream was particularly disturbing. He tried to avoid having at his fore-thoughts, but it kept crawling back. He'd never seen those demons before in his traversals. And Amy? What did she have to do with it? What ever it was it was literally complicated as hell. He kept placing it as a shifted nightmare. It was all it was. A nightmare. He was going to see Cream and the rest of his friends, a matter of happiness and gleefulness for the little rabbit. He just ran faster, running past overbearing trees and towns on the way, being careful with his turns as to not slip on the icy roads. He passed a clock tower, it reading around 7:30. Creams party started over an hour ago. He was definitely going to be fashionably late. But he sure he forgot something...

"Alright Cream! Open my present!" Said Amy. In the warmth of the coziest place this side of Station Squares suburban housing, Cream was over-joyous. Her mother, Vanilla had already giving her dozens of presents. Mostly clothes and new toys. Wrapping paper was all over the place, mounting tables and chairs. Around the two were Cream's colourful guests: A green crocodile, a purple chameleon and a happily buzzing bee sat with each other, as well as a red Echidna and an orange two-tailed fox standing beside the fireplace, watching Cream open Amy's gift.

"Wow a pink chao doll! That will go well with my collection huh Cheese?" Cream gleed. "Chao chao!" Chirped Cheese, the small blue pixie like chao. Cream fled off to her room and placed the pink chao on a row of multicolored ones. "Thank you so much Amy!" She said, running back and hugging her friend. "That's not a problem Cream!" Amy smiled. She wanted to be angry but she wasn't. She knew Sonic would be late anyway, but also knew that he wouldn't miss Cream's parties.

He wasn't mean enough to do it. She shrugged it off and went off to help Vanilla clean up the mess.

"When's the cake?" Asked the green crocodile. "Soon Vector. Soon. We're just waiting for Sonic to arrive, where ever he is..." Answered the two-tailed fox. "He probably forgot." Amy cooed. Cream shook her head. "Mr. Sonic never forgets my birthday." She assured. "I hope you're right." Answered the red Echidna. Vanilla faced Vector. "Vector, do you mind helping me out in the kitchen?" She asked ever so sweetly. "Would I ever!" He answered with a bit too much enthusiasm as he followed Vanilla.

The two-tailed fox and the red Echidna rolled their eyes. "Why worry about Sonic? He's far too predictable nowadays." The red echidna commented.

"I will say yes and no to that Knuckles..." Said the Two-tailed fox. Knuckles gave a raised eyebrow.

"Tails...what does that even mean?" He replied. Tails shrugged. "Well...he is but he isn't. A bit paradoxical but that's besides the point."

Meanwhile Amy chucked the rest of the shredded wrapping paper into the bins outside. She heard a few sounds before seeing a blue blur speed past. "Finally." She muttered under her breath. She quickly returned inside through the laundry door and went to go look for Cream, who was busy stuffing her face with candy. Amy tapped her shoulder. "Cream! Guess who's here!" She said.

Cream turned around, her cheeks bulged. "Mr. Shonish?" She answered, muffled by lollies.

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Cream quickly swallowed down the candy in a huff and skipped over towards the front and turned the knob.

"Hey Cream! Happy Birthday!" Announced Sonic, who had his arms out wide. Cream immediately jumped into his arms. "I knew you would come Mr. Sonic!" She squealed. The hug made a tight embrace before letting go. "Sorry I was late!" He apologized. Cream shook her head.

"It's okay! You got here just in time for the cake!" She said as she snatched his hand and dragged him over towards the dining table. Sonic laughed as the young rabbit took him to the side and saw Tails and Knuckles, who waved to their friend, as well as the bee and the Chameleon hanging around as well.

This wasn't so bad. Never really is. He knew the Chaotix, consisting of the mentioned Vector, notable for his crush on Vanilla, in which he must have taken Charmy and Espio along with him. Or they agreed. Assurances on Espio's part, to make sure Vector didn't go too far or somewhat fainted and needed someone to pick up and take him home. Nonetheless, they knew each other well. Plus Charmy and Cream got along swell with one another, being playmates almost.

Knuckles and Tails hadn't changed much. Knuckles, for once, left the Master Emerald. He took in the comfort that Rouge was currently on mission with Shadow and GUN. His only concern was Eggman, who could be anywhere, but last reports were that he was some weeks away from revealing some dumb plot for Team Sonic to foil, not to mention Eggman is hardly interested in it anymore, knowing he would probably get a beat down from merely just touching the damn thing. Sonic counted on his roaring rampages to eventually get it back, or if it ever smashed to pieces, he'd find half, Eggman would find half...in the end it'd come back together, like if nothing ever happened. Stereotypical of their adventures. Tails...just Tails. His tinkering agendas were nothing new. He'd recently moved to a more remote location not to far from this particular suburb.

"So what ya cookin' up this time Tails?" Sonic asked, giving a thumbs up and a wink.

Tails shrugged. "Nothing in particular. I was actually trying to decode some old runes I'd found the other week. So far I'm having little luck. So I asked Knuckles to help me out."

Sonic turned to Knuckles. "So, what'd ya do?" Knuckles crossed his arms. "Nothing like I'd seen. It's in Ancient Mobian...very Ancient Mobian. Possibly tens of thousands of years old."

Sonic nodded in interest. "That's cool. Nothing like Gaia or Babylon Garden is it?"

Knuckles shook his head. "Well, no. This thing has its worse vibes, but in our investigations nothing seems to have happened." Ah another ancient historical sight. This planet has fascinating pasts, ranging from Knuckles ancestors to internal planet dwelling god-like beings. Never ceases to amaze Sonic...although they would usually find out because Eggman had discovered them all beforehand. That Doctor really does his research...well, most of the time, prompting Sonic to reflect Eggman on his successive failures. "Although, we did find this really strange type of flower that apparently only grows in that area. In fact, its the only one that grows there. Smells good too." Commented Tails. Sonic loved his flowers. This area had to isolated. Only such beauty lives in untarnished areas. The unreachable would hold such wonders that only most can dream of. "I wouldn't mind having a sneak peek at this place. Where is it?"

Tails tapped his chin. "It's about 500km North of where Holoska's Gaia Temple was. It's strange though. It's in-between weird mountains where it fails to snow. What's even more odd is it that the temperatures peeks at almost 30 Degrees Celsius."

That was indeed strange. Considering most of Holoska was a frozen wasteland last time they visited.

"I've seen plenty of flowers on my island too. There's a large range of them that according to Tails, they can be only found there. So I've seen a lot. But there's something fishy about this one." Said Knuckles. "What's wrong with it? Other than it being grown in an impossible place..." Sonic wondered. Knuckles looked at Tails. "Well..." Started Tails. "I've tried looking it up. I've checked from A to Z in types of flowers, wild flowers and flora...nothing there."

Knuckles continued. "But when we looked up mythical plants, we found something that was highly identical to it."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "Okay...you seemed so hyped up about this plant. What does it actually do?"

Tails pulled a book out from one of his tails and opened it up. He flipped through the pages very quickly before finding the page he was looking for. "Ah he we go. This plant is very ancient and is known to only be found in a place called Muriel's Garden."

"Which is where we were." Said Knuckles. Tails kept on reading. "On old rumors and stories, this plant was said to have two seperate effects depending on how it was consumed. One, if it burnt like an incense, was said to cause violent hallucinations upon smelling it."

Sonic's eyes drifted between the two of them. "Wait...smelling it? Didn't seem like it had an effect on either of you."

Tails shook his head. "No...it has to be burnt, then smelled. Lucky we had no intention in burning them in the first place."

Sonic shrugged. "What ever. What else does it say?"

Tails nodded. "Alright, it says the second effect is that if it's grounded up into a fine powder and mixed with honey, water and...hm...wait, does that even exist?"

Sonic blinked. "What?"

Tail's face contorted in thought as he wondered out aloud. "Lava blood. Honey, water and Lava Blood is thrown into the mix."

Knuckles was just as confused. "Never heard of that either."

"Does it say what it does?" Asked Sonic. Tails looked back down at the book. "It's said to cure people of comas. Simply pour it down their throats and it should wake them up."

"That's pretty neat. Pity about that so called Lava blood though. I guess it's just a lost cause."

"I dunno Sonic..." Said Tails, who seemed to be less skeptical. "We've seen some freaky stuff over time. Who knows? It could be under our noses..."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Perhaps we wouldn't want it under there Tails..." He said sarcastically.

Sonic just cleaned his ear with his pinky finger. "Well, I suppose. I want to take a look at this flower. If it's beautiful as you say it is...I might just tag along for the ride..."

Tails handed the book over to Sonic. "Even though we should be studying the runes instead of some flowers. I suppose we could kill two birds with one stone while we're at it." He said.

Sonic looked at the page briefly. It had a sketched image of the flower in question. It had a big red rose with deep blue thorns. Sonic thought for a moment, trying to place something about it. He'd seen it somewhere...but where? His eyes were brought up to the name of the flower.

"Abbadonia's Rose." He muttered. His eyes quickly went wide as he flashed back to his dream and skimmed through it, scrolling to the last part where he'd seen...

"Sonic!" Yelled a chirpy girlish voice.

"Amy?" He said, before getting glomped. Tails took back the book that Sonic was carrying...then dropped. Amy had her arms wrapped around Sonic's neck as she took him from behind.

"I knew you would come! Come on! We're about to have the cake!"

\- - - - 

She let go of him as she turned the lights off around the house. Sonic was stunned and in deep thought. "What is this about?" He pondered. Amy stood next to Cream as Vanilla brought the cake, which was a cute white cake with a pink ribbon around it and white icing to the table and started singing Happy Birthday. Cream sat in her special chair as Cheese sat in her lap. Everyone soon surrounded the table cheering. Sonic again shook off his peculiar thoughts and started singing alongside them.

"..Happy Birthday dear Cream...Happy Birthday to you!"

Cream smiled from ear to ear as they sang. "Go on Cream, make a wish then blow out the candles!" Said Vector, who stood on the other side of her.

Cream placed her finger to her thumb. "Ummm...oh I know!"

Her mother grinned and leaned down beside her. "Don't say it or it won't come true!" She muttered.

Cream nodded frantically. She, along with Cheese, finally blew out her candles. Every clapped and cheered. Vanilla leant the knife to Cream. Amy giggled. "If you touch the bottom you have to kiss the nearest boy!" She bragged as her hands flung to her hips. Cream took the knife and pressed it down in the middle of the cake. Doing so, Vector winked at Espio, who grinned evilly and grabbed onto Charmy, throwing him towards Vector, in which Charmy cried out in confused protest. Vector held Charmy by his arms. Cream wasn't paying attention as she 'accidentally' touched the bottom. Amy squealed. "Now kiss the nearest boy!"

"WHAT? EW!" Cried Charmy. "Oh come on Charmy! It's just one on the cheek!" Said Vector.

Amy chuckled. "Wait! You planned this didn't you!" Charmy said in anger. "Just do it! Might do you some good to know you've been kissed by a girl." Espio chuckled. Charmy's head fell.

Cream giggled as her head reached his cheek and gave it a little peck, causing Charmy to blush furiously. The rest of the group laughed along.

\- - - - 

Not too long after, Vector had spread small plates out while Vanilla cut the cake into pieces and placed each piece on a plate, then Amy gave them out to everyone. Sonic again stood with Tails and Knuckles, slowly eating his piece. "You were white as a ghost before. Do you mind me asking why?" Said Knuckles. Sonic lifted his head up. "I was? Huh...I dunno." Sonic said. It was sorta half true, half false. Memory of his dream had floated back to his mind. The girl...Amy. He was looking straight at those flowers. So was she. But...she spoke in cryptic words. Then those demonic beasts...the pits of abyss. It made no sense to him. But he knew...if anything, that he had to investigate the ruins.

"So when are you two going again?" Asked Sonic. 

"Well, I was going to take the tornado over there tomorrow morning." Answered Tails, taking a bite of his cake. "Why dob you join ush?"

Sonic tapped his finger. He wasn't doing much else with his time. A little excavating wouldn't hurt anybody. "I think I'm up for a little adventure!"

After cake it was soon time to go. Vector helped do the dishes while Vanilla cleaned the house. Charmy buzzed around for a bit with Cream, completely forgetting the fiasco earlier and started playing with her and Cheese. Espio sat down and watched TV, waiting for Vector to finish. It indeed was getting a bit late. Sonic patted Cream on the head as he walked into her room.

"Hey Cream, thanks for the partay!" He said, giving a thumbs up.

"No thank you Mr. Sonic for coming. And don't worry about my present..."

Sonic blinked, then chuckled nervously. "Oh I knew I'd forgotten something. I promise I'll give your present. Maybe tomorrow?"

Cream just smiled. "Oh okay then." She said, getting up and squeezing him. "Heh...stay out of trouble then...you too Charmy, Cheese!"

"Seeya Sonic!" Said Charmy.

"Chao chao!" Said Cheese.

Sonic walked into the lounge, said goodbye to Espio, then went into the kitchen and said his farewells to Vanilla and Vector. "Thanks for coming Sonic. Cream really appreciates it." Said Vanilla

"No problemo!" Replied Sonic. "Cya some other time Vector!"

"You too!" Responded Vector. Tails and Knuckles had already gone out the door. But then noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Amy?" Asked Sonic. Vanilla shrugged. "I think she's already left. She said she had important stuff to do."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "At this time of night? Oh well...cyas!"

Sonic went outside in the snow with Tails and Knuckles, somewhat disturbed by Amy who had already left. It wasn't like her. Passed years had her stay behind to clean up. But she seemed perfectly happy and normal before. It'll probably be nothing. Sonic now believed he was taking things out of proportion. It was minor, he was sure. He left those thoughts behind and started walking with Tails and Knuckles.

"Well, I'm heading home now. I expect to see the pair of you at my house at say, five am?"

"Five am?" Sonic complained. "Why so early?"

Tails crossed his arms and scowled. "Good excavationists have to get to their destinations nice and early, so they have all day to explore..."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged the same looks. "Whatever you say Tails..."

\- - - - 

Knuckles gave his indication and immediately went back to Angel Island, while Sonic walked Tails back home. It was quiet and the snow had stopped falling. Tails was still bright and cheery with his white with a green stripe scarf wrapped around his neck. Sonic remembered he didn't have any other warm clothes. But it didn't matter. He could brave the cold. As well as try to avoid catching at cold at least. His head was low as his eyes followed the footpath in front of him. He unconsciously look to the right of him, down a lonesome street, squinting to see a brownish figure with glowing lines running all over it. "What the..." Sonic muttered. He stopped and put his hand over his eyes to see what was there. It waved to him, before spurting blood everywhere...

_heeeeeeeeeeeellllllppppp meeeeeeee soooooooooooniiiiiiiiiic_

Tails stopped in his tracks and turned around. "What's the matter Sonic?"

Sonic faced Tails. "Uh...nothin'." He replied. Tails gave Sonic a concerned look.

"That's the second time..." He commented. 

Sonic scratched his head. "Second time for what?"

"You're white as snow. Did you see another ghost or something?"

Sonic's pupils had dilated. "Well...I don't think you'd believe me."

"Why's that?" He concerted. 

Sonic pointed down the road. "Do you see any demons down there?"

Tails looked where Sonic was pointing. "Well...no...not really. Just an empty street. It might have been a cat."

Sonic shook his head. "Never mind..."

"Is someone a little paranoid lately? Was that the reason why you were late to the party?" Tails queried as his hands flew to hips, as he looked at Sonic with skeptic eyes.

Sonic clasped his ears. "N-no Tails." He wanted to change the subject...as it had become increasingly sensitive to think about. "I was worried that Amy was going to murder me again, because I didn't go to her picnic yesterday."

Tails tilted his head. "Sonic...Amy didn't have a picnic yesterday. She was in Station Square buying Creams present."

Sonic crossed his arms. "How do you know that?"

"She called you remember? She said she was buying the present and wanted to know if she could buy your present for her, because she knew you would forget." Tails replied, point the matter of fact.

"Really?" Said Sonic, now confused. He could barely think of what had happened yesterday. It was all a blur. "Well...OK..."

Tails gave a longing look, concerned for his friend. "You sure you're okay Sonic?"

Sonic looked up, realizing that he was staring at the footpath again. "I'm fine. Just...the cake..." He said, rubbing his tummy. "I guess the sugar is going to my head. I suppose I better run it off huh?"

Tails turned back around. "I suppose. I'm almost home anyway. Run all you like. Just remember, five am."

"Okay buddy. See you in the morning..."

Tails walked off. "Bright and early..."

\- - - - 

Sonic rubbed his head. Why couldn't he remember yesterday? He bolted off in the opposite direction, hoping to be lead anywhere...

Sure enough, Sonic found himself in the middle of Station Square, where it was dead still. No one on the streets, but the street lights were still on. Was it really that late? He'd passed several shops on the way. All closed, but looking into the shop windows for anything that Cream would like.

Obviously she wouldn't enjoy cleaning utensils, although that would be good for Vanilla. Passing by a chemist, auto stores and the like, before arriving in front of a toy shop. He pressed his hands against the window and let his breath create the fog on the window. "Hmm...lessee..."

He saw some chao plushies. But he didn't know which ones she had or which ones she didn't.

He tried to screen around, but majority of the toys on display were male orientated. He sighed to himself and turned around, keeping his eyes to the ground once more. His head tilted upwards ever so slightly, seeing another pink haired hedgehog, this time wearing a yellow coat with babs of white fluffy cuffs and yellow boots and beret. She consistently stared at Sonic with her green eyes.

"Amy don't scare me like that. Almost gave me a heart attack."

Amy tilted her head ways and glanced at Sonic. Sonic approached her, then looking above at the now clear blue sky.

"Why are you out this time of night? Oh weren't you busy?" He said. He looked downwards. She'd gone again. He frantically searched around, seeing her to his left, down in the middle of an intersection. "Amy what are you doing?" He asked, albeit puzzled by her actions and lack of words.

He began walking in her direction, before she turned to her side and ran off down the street. "Hey Amy wait!" He said, running after her. She waited at the end of street, often turning around to make sure Sonic was following her. Sonic couldn't understand what she was up to, or why she was acting so creepy. They made twists and turns before Amy walked up a flight of steps and entered through a dark brown door. Sonic checked his right and his left before slowly walking up the steps himself.

"Hey Amy what was it you wanted to show me-HEY!"

The sun was bright and warm and the fields were no longer endless, but pillars of twisted vines shielded the horizon. He walked forward and searched around. Where was Amy?

"Hello? Anyone here?" He shouted. Silence. Dead silence. No wind to shuffle the leaves in the nearby trees or the rustle in the long grass. Sonic's ears started ringing because of it.

"Okay, getting out of here now..." He said, a bit confused at what he saw. He spun around to head out the door...before realizing the door was no longer there. Just a gigantic tree. Sonic stood back in awe of this awesome tree, which possessed swirling runes and the like. The runes were in some indecipherable language, but then rearranged themselves to form something else entirely, which then became legible. Sonic squinted then un-squinted as he read the words out aloud.

"In bated breath comes the child's flower, sowing seeds of chaotic order."

Feeling a tap on his right shoulder, Sonic immediately looked. She was readily standing there in her all breathless stature which outright freaked him out. He stood back raising his hands.

"Okay...I don't know whats going on, so I would like to be let in on the loop please..." He pleaded.

She just stood there staring at him, curiously. She held out a familiar flower...she wanted to give it to Sonic. Sonic hesitated for a moment.

"I dunno...last time I was even near that thing all kinds of crazy stuff happened. We don't want that now do we?"

Her arm was still open to him. She barely moved from her spot, with her head swaying side to side.

"Nuh uh. I'm getting the heck out of here. See ya!" He said, before bolting off down the fields.

He ran...and ran...and ran...with no end in the sight. The scenery repeated itself. Rows of trees flew by, each one more the same than the last, the same birds flying past repeatedly. He skidded to a halt and wiped his forehead. "Where I am...it sure is cooky." He turned around to see how far he'd gone from the giant tree...only to see he hadn't gotten any further, making Sonic's jaw drop.

"Come on now! This is getting ridiculous!" He belted. It was getting further and further in obscurity as he went on. None of it was making any sense to him. He turned back around, only to bump into the girl again.

"Ah man, not again!" He grumbled and sighed. "Look, please. I don't know what you want from me. I want out. I can help you with what you need, but...you gotta help me. Do we have a deal?"

The girl once again lent out her hand with the rose. Sonic face palmed.

"Aw geez not with the flower again." He had no choice. He would end up running on the spot for the rest of his life.

He reluctantly grabbed the flower and looked at it. "Is this what you want? Because I gotta run...".

"Yup...now you have to wake up..."

\- - - - 

Sonic's head flung up. It was that fire headed woman again, with the lava blood running her 4 dozen fanged mouth. Sonic screamed.

"Wakey wakey Sonic!"

Sonic batted his eyelids and yawned. 

"Huh?" He mumbled. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to get accumulated to his surroundings. The roof was pointed and wooden, the walls were a faint orange with a window shrouded in green circle patterned curtains blew in the wind of the open window. The duvet was thick and white, the bed single and black. Sonic helped himself out of bed to the smell of toast. He saw a flight of stairs and slowly walked down the spirals onto the bottom floorboards. He yawned before seeing Tails in the kitchen. Then realizing where he was: Tails house.

"How did I get here?" He mumbled. 

Tails looked confused as he was spreading peanut butter on his toast. 

"What do you mean? You asked me if you could crash the night. Don't tell me you saw a ghost again Sonic...your face is all flustered. Bad dream?"

"Yeah must have been. It's okay man. I'm probably all worked up from yesterdays dilemmas. So we off to the ruins soon?" He asked, desperately wanting to change the subject.

"Almost. We just have to wait for Knuckles to arrive. I called him earlier. I doubt he even slept." Tails responded as he made sure there was enough peanut butter spread.

Sonic shrugged and headed towards the fridge. "That's Knuckles for ya. His opinion is that they'd often get ya at night. If it wasn't for his gullibility it would be impossible for him to leave."

Tails chuckled. "Yeah. But I bet he'll have a snooze on the plane over."

Sonic grabbed the carton of Milk out of the fridge and drank straight from it. "Of course..." He agreed, placing the carton back into the fridge.

Tails soon served up the toast and they nommed that down to the last crumb. Tails washed the dishes while Sonic sat in the lounge on tails still packaged couches.

"Aren't you gonna remove the plastic?" He asked, shirking at the screeching sounds.

"I don't want them getting dirty you know...while I'm working."

Sonic laid back with his hands behind his head. "What ever you say."

He pondered for a while. Another dream...another moment encountering people resembling Amy Rose. But why does that make her so special? There was failure in this sense. It wasn't as if she was in his forethought...

KNOCK KNOCK!

"That'd be Knuckles. Let him in..." Said Tails. Sonic jumped off the couch and headed to the door.

"Hey, I'm not late am I?" Said Knuckles.

The trio headed down into Tail's Lab. It was extensive and vast, a place for scientific kings. Tails prepared the Tornado for a long hall to Holoska. "Alright...she's ready..."

Tails hopped into the cock pit, with Sonic standing at the back, and Knuckles sitting in the newly fashioned passenger seat. Tails placed on his specialized goggles as he pressed numerous buttons, causing the roof to slide down to an angle, using his driveway as a run way.

"Here we go!" Said tails as a pressed a bright big red button. The Tornado shifted, and zoomed off into the distant sky...

Tails kept above the clouds for the trip, and as was suspected, Knuckles had already fallen asleep.

Sonic relaxed and let the breeze run over him. No troubles in the sky...but those words were marked in his head...

In bated breath comes the child's flower, sowing seeds of chaotic order.

He whispered. He mind was consumed in confusion. Flashes of red crossed his mind for no reason...this wasn't a memory...was it?

"Do you like the colour red?" He muttered to himself. Red. Red could mean anything. It had to be related to the flowers. Those...Abbadonia Roses. They had to be connected. Their cause...their means. He could have sniffed them at some point, but at what cost? Maybe the reason he couldn't remember the other day was because he might have encountered them. Who knows? His memory as of late was a bit fuzzy. The same people entered is forethoughts. Amy...Amy...different Amys. Many Amys. All acted with such behavior that he couldn't comprehend. One spoke, one didn't...the other preferred to be suicidal. Three Amy's. Nah...Amy would have mentioned brothers and sisters by now. Actually, realizing now, he knew nothing about her. Other than her obsession with himself and her friendships, there was scarcely a thing he knew. She never mentioned family, nor origins or her past other than when he saved her on Little Planet all those years ago. Then again, what was she doing on Little Planet in the first place?

Maybe she was native? Nah...I think in response she had been smitten with him. He wondered when Little Planet would come back next. Eggman never kept tabs after the first time. Those damn Time Stones...he didn't know what was worse: Those or the Chaos Emeralds.

Obsessionalized Chaos perhaps? So many things unanswered for. Beating robots and creatures and saving the world over and over again...most of the time from the same person. Surely those repeated times would never or hardly change a bit. It was abnormal for Sonic to think that Eggmans strategy with bigger and better robots would change. But this was not about Eggman...it was nor a friend or foe but something more...internal. Battling his own demons? Funnily enough the psychotic thing about it was just those dreams so far. Such little endeavors. They bothered him so much. But why? Why all this confusion and unanswered questions? Someone was trying to speak to him...or warn him. What ever the case, Sonic tried to wonder whether or not to follow up on these or just leave them be as terrible nightmares or the effects of the hallucinogenic flowers. Not that he remembers having burnt any flowers in more recent times. It was so...blank...blurry...only shadows of black and red...brown...dirt...flames. It hurt his head more than he'd like it to be.

"Well, we're here!"

Sonic snapped out of his thinking cap, surprised they'd gotten their already. "Wow Tails that was fast..."

"Well I did install a new engine." He commented as he banged the side of the plane for good measure.

They slowly descended down, Sonic noticing the cold winterous atmosphere that was Holoska. Then seeing the mountainside and the weirdly deep yet colourful depth of the ruins they were going area must be Muriel's Garden, the entirety of it. A mixture of flat surfaces, hills and rocks scattered everywhere. Tails carefully landed the Tornado just outside of the large limestone gate way, in which one of the doors had been broken.

Getting off the plane, They walked towards it, Sonic noticing an abundance of the aforementioned roses growing on the sides. He was slightly afraid of going near them again, wondering if the book forget to mention that just a small sniff can cause one to see minor things. He looked at Knuckles curiously. "Hey Knux lemme ask you something..." He said. "Shoot."

Sonic rubbed his chin. "You said you smelt the flower. You didn't see anything unusual afterwords did you?" Knuckles shrugged. "No not really. Maybe a few noises perhaps. But it might have been the wildlife."

Sonic scanned the area. No birds or any type of animal was seen. Maybe because it was Holoska...a barren northernmost land. "I don't see any..." Sonic noted. Tails checked the book.

"The book might have forgotten to write that down. Obviously this area was still inhabited before the population vanished. If we investigate this area more, we might find out who lived here and why they're not longer doing so."

Sonic nodded. "Alright then. Then solve the mystery of the flower to huh?" "That too." Replied Tails.

The trio walked through the large gate. They entered in what appeared to be a wide courtyard. In the middle sat a fountain which no longer sprinkled, but was filled with water still. The ruins were a deteriorated brown and majority of the ground tiles walls and pillars covered in overgrown grass and moss. The atmosphere became a bit humid as the sun pined down from above. Abbadonias grew in here too. They approached the opposing wall beyond the fountain to find a large carving of some sort of symbol. It was a square with a spiraled flower from birds eye view in the middle of it. The ends of the petals were edged.

"Huh...these people must have worshiped them." Sonic stated. Knuckles looked at the hieroglyphics underneath the carving. "I was trying to transcribe this before. It made no sense to me. I've seen it before elsewhere like most ruins I've seen. But...I'm also not too sure with the transcriptions."

Sonic examined the symbol. "Give it to me straight Knuckles...just tell us what ya got so far."

Knuckles leaned in to the hieroglyphics. "The style is similar to Ancient Mobikian..."

Knuckles cleared his breath before reading on. "Here lies the Garden of Rosales. All guests are welcome into the House of Rosoideae, the bearing fruits of the heavens."

Tails rechecked his book. "It says Rosales is the entire area. Not just including this courtyard, but this whole place behind the mountains."

\- - - - 

Sonic trailed off while Tails and Knuckles were busy rereading the transcriptions. He had wandered off through what appeared to be a door way into some district. The wind hollowed through the cracks and crevices of the multi-storied limestone bearings. Like the courtyard, aged tiles riddled the floor with grass shooting through, some blades reaching a few meters high. And also like the courtyard, more Abbadonia's filled bits and pieces and seeped through the edges of the tiles.

He walked down a little more, before his head turned left, noticing what appeared to be a main street, filled with ancient buildings. Sonic repeatedly checked his surroundings for anything suspicious. He heard footsteps behind him and swung around. "Who's there?" He demanded.

No response. He swerved back front, eyes bellowing as a pink haired hedgehog wearing a white line patterned green skirt and bikini top. She also wore a green blindfold over her eyes.

"Not you again." He moaned. She did not attempt to goad him with a flower, like the other two.

"You must find her and bring her to her house, for once more the lock has been broken and the last Keyholder is dead. It is clearer with eyes wide shut."

Sonic stepped back. "No way man...I've been attacked by that crazy demon lady twice! How do I know you're not in the same league as her?"

"The blind see more than those who are not." She muttered, having the same exact tone the blue and the yellow girls did. Sonic stood back a little more, ready to bolt off.

"Yeah uh, I'm actually busy exploring this place. Cya!" He rambled, before heading back towards to Tails and Knuckles. "You want knowledge...I can give you the past."

Sonic stopped in his tracks. "If its an artifact of doom, I suggest you seal it off before someone comes to steal it."

"No." She stated. "I only want you to see the truth."

Sonic faced her once more. Her proposal seemed appetizing, if not intriguing. "I'm not gonna get screwed over here am I?"

The girl truffled her way over to Sonic in a snails pace, annoying Sonic to no end. He stood there, staring at her Amy-like resemblance and wondered if they were related somehow. She grabbed his hands and placed them in a butterfly position. Sonic didn't feel any different, just awkward.

"So...can I move my hands now?" He partitioned. Again, silence riddled his ears. "Okay, opening my eyes now..."

"Move it Stupilite!" Roared a voice.

Sonic unlatched his hands as he jumped out of the way of a moving cart. "Sorry!"

Looking around, he realized that he was someone different...no...he'd experienced this before...he was in some different time! The ruins were fully functional buildings, complete with bronze statutes all around, Abbadonia's organized and so forth. Pink hedgehogs roamed the place, exchanging goods such as fruits, meats and fish. Most had short hair, exactly like Amy's, some wore white robes and other articles of ancient clothing. Most laughed and cheered. Sonic's jaw just dropped.

"Woah..." Was all his mouth could mutter. He walked down the main street, past carts and shops, blacksmiths and the like. Men...women and children. He then witnessed a group of blue hedgehogs, just like him, huddled up further in what appeared to be a temple of sorts. He walked up to them. They wore golden armour with a Þ shaped mark on the chest plates and shoulder armour. They had red silky cloaks bearing the same mark as well as golden spiked spears. Sonic hid behind one of the many tall pillars and listened in to their conversations. One, who had had fringe tufts coming from his forehead and wrinkles under his eyes, obviously an Elder of sorts.

"We've gotten word recently of ruckus coming from the Echidna clans up north having a bit of strife with one of their deities. We've been tasked to take the Prophetess back up to Miracle Planet for safety." He stated. One of the younger ones, short but proud, stunted his spear.

"Should we get the Sorcerers to prepare the Altar for her?" He asked. 

"Affirmative. We cannot afford for the demon to be let lose again." Ordered the Elder. The lessers barged into the Temples doors, while Sonic secretly followed them along. He'd trespassed into a larger chamber, complete with roof and wall paintings. Hiding behind another pillar, he witnessed the Elder Guard approaching a pink female hedgehog in a very revealing white dress. They're all over the place. Sonic thought to himself. She sat on a thrown, alongside three younger hedgehog girls in front of her sitting on matching coloured futons. One was wearing a blue gown, with light blue fluff over her ears. Another was wearing a yellow gown, with some sort of golden brace over her mouth. The last one was wearing a green gown, with a green blindfold over her eyes. Sonic's own went wide and deduced the situation.

"So that's who they are..." He muttered. He looked up at the Elder Guard talking to who he assumed was the Prophetess.

"Milady, the King has informed me that the Echidna Clans have been brought on-"

"By the wrath of the Gods. I know..." Replied the Prophetess, who's voice was wispery and dreamy.

"We fear they..."

"No."

"But...milady..."

"I said no..."

The Prophetess refused to back down. She sat in her chair and solemnly stared at the Elder Guard.

"The Gods will not punish us like the Echidnas. Their greed is their own downfall. I pity the young Princess Tikal. She was a good friend of ours"

The Elder Guard stood back in shock. "She's dead too?"

The Prophetess closed her eyes and clenched the edge of the armrests of the throne. "No...not quite. She will return...but not in our time-line."

The blind girl stood up from her futon and started walking off towards Sonic for no reason. The guards paid attention to this, and saw Sonic in the midst. "Intruder!" Barked one of the guards.

"Bring him to me." Ordered the Prophetess.

The Blind Girl latched onto Sonic's shoulder and walked him to to the throne. He was met by glares from the guards, but the other girls seemed to just gave him blank stares.

"Thorns also and thistles shall bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field." Muttered the Elder Guard.

"Enough Gabriel, you do not have the authority to command in my temple. Leave us... Mizaru has no problem with this Stupilite. Neither do I."

"But..."

"LEAVE!" Roared the Prophetess in such a Goddess's fierce voice.

Gabriel bowed and hustled himself and his lesser guards out of the temple.

"Mizaru, please sit back with the others." She asked sweetly. Mizaru walked back to her futon and sat there with her legs crossed.

Sonic stood there, rather stunned. Then back to the Prophetess. Her stare was piercing and emotionless.

"You are Sonic the Hedgehog? Are you not?"

Sonic bowed his head. "Yes milady." He replied with courtesy.

"Rise up! I want none of that! You are a Ghost of the Future. Returned by the sentience spirit of Mizaru. And no doubt also lead by Kikazaru and Iwazaru here as well."

Sonic lifted his head back up. "Well, I guess so."

The Prophetess smiled and crossed her legs. "Good. I am Shizaru, Prophetess for the House of Rosoideae. I am their contact with the rest of the distant lands. You have questions for me no?"  
Sonic blinked. "Uh yeah." Shizaru bowed her head. "Speak."

Finally, time to get some answers. Perhaps those were purposeful dreams after all. But what questions to ask. He reached to his back and scratched it, inclined about picky choices.

"I wanted to know...I've been visited in my dreams by these girls. I know who they are now...but who is the fourth one? Could it be related to the demon that your Guards spoke of?"

Shizaru rested back. "The demon appears to you because it knows your one of it's greatest threats. It cannot rise until the lock is broken and the Keyholder is dead."

Sonic tapped his cheek. "A huh...so...I'm assuming they're alive. I mean, at this very moment."

Shizaru bowed her head and closed her eyes.

"One cannot be certain if either has broken or died. But your future...is bleak." Said Kikazaru.

Sonic's head aimed for the light blue girl. Iwazaru the Yellow rose from her futon and turned to face Sonic. With her right hand, using her middle and index fingers together she used the finger tips to wipe his lips. He suddenly then tasted sulfur. "Wait, does that mean it's already happened in my timeline?" He blurted. Iwazaru turned back around and sat down again. "You're here because you are Stupilite...Defender of the House...bound by spirit and law."

Sonic face-palmed. "Great...another prophecy..." He moaned.

"All Stupilites are armed for greater destinies." Mizaru mentioned. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't destined for something greater..."

"Don't they all mention that? Sounds a bit cliché..." Sonic said sarcastically. "So...what do I actually have to do?"

"Find the girl and return her to this House. The Wisers will appear to you again when we need you."

\- - - - 

In a flash of light, Sonic found himself back in the Courtyard. He saw Tails and Knuckles still rambling on about whatever.

"So what did you find while I was gone?" He asked. Tails lifted his head up from the book.

"Sonic...now's not the time for lame speed jokes. I know you're impatient but I've only done one page..."

Sonic scratched his head. "I was gone...for like, half an hour."

Knuckles sighed. "Yeah Sonic...that is kinda lame dude." He complained. Knuckles eventually moved on to another wall. "Alright...this one says "The House of Rosoideae is humbly protected by the Stupilite Honour Guards. With them harm will not come to this holy place peace and prosperity. Those who intrude the peace or threaten to harm it will..."

Sonic's head suddenly froze, all that moved were his lips that said: "Thorns also and thistles shall bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field."

Tails and Knuckles both gave Sonic looks. Tails eyes then went to Knuckles.

"Since when can you read hieroglyphics?" Knuckles brooded.

Sonic shrugged. "I can't. It was...something that just came out of my mouth I suppose."

The fox and the Echidna gave a quick glance to one another, before looking back at Sonic.

"Sonic man...you're kinda giving me the creeps." Knuckles commented.

Sonic shrugged it off. "It's probably those damn flowers." He suggested.

"Probably yeah..." Agreed Tails. Tails went back to his book while Knuckles went on transcribing. Sonic just gave a relieved huff.

"Ah I see. The Stupilites were a rare group of elite Hedgehogs who were saved by the people here, who were also, coincidentally, hedgehogs. They were hunted down because of their demonic ways, often having abilities some shouldn't." Said Tails. That sounded awfully familiar to Sonic.

"Their numbers were small. But eventually the House found governed clans across the globe and brought them together. The only thing the House forbade them was to marry one another, as although they were of similar species, they were big on blood purity at the time."

Knuckles chuckled. "Relatives of yours Sonic?" He joked. Sonic became flustered. 

"Probably not...but it'd be cool to have them as ancestors huh Sonic? Something to trace your roots back to." Tails noted. Yes because that kind of history is hugely healthy to have.

Sonic crossed his arms. "What makes you think I'm not?" He retorted. Tails rolled his eyes.

"Who knows maybe you are maybe your not? Their population was low, but got higher over time thanks to the House's efforts. I suppose they had a better relationship than most...other than the blood purity thing." Tails assumed. Whether that in itself was a good thing was another story.

"Meh...my family was like that. Blood purity this, blood purity that. Dwindling civilizations were pretty much exactly the same. It's nothing new." Knuckles explained.

Sonic looked at the door away again, hoping to see any of the Wiser Girls standing there. But with no avail. He had to look for the girl they spoke of. Only problem was that which one?

Using at least some of his deductive intelligence, he thought of Amy. Out of all the pink hedgehogs he saw, Shizaru was the one who resembled her the most. But surely Amy had relations with others, family, friends. There had to be thousands upon thousands of pink hedgehogs in the world. But only Amy seemed to be connected to this mess. Oh what ever one would call it.

"Hmm..nothing new here. Other than the rest of text rambling on about Gods like Chaos, Gaia and the like. I suppose they were pretty informed for such an isolated area. But nothing that'll tell us whats in this place." Knuckles mentioned as he continued to run his eyes all over it.

Tails scratched his head. "We could have a look around for a map. If this is a starting place as well as a meeting place, it'll have to have one floating around."

"For sure good buddy." Said Sonic,giving a thumbs up. They walked through the same doorway that Sonic went down previously. He himself, trekked behind the two as they were in awe of the décor that was the ruins of Rosales. 

Incredible." Tails complimented, almost dropping his book as a result. 

"Just look at this place..." Said Knuckles, who was slowly making his way around.

Sonic's arms were held behind his head, his expression uninterested. Arriving at the main street, They witnessed a crowd of robots headed towards the Temple at the very end.

"Oh jeez I wonder who they belong to..." Sonic said sarcastically. 

"What's Eggman doing here?" Knuckles wondered.

"Obviously up to no good again." Tails pointed out.

Sonic simply rolled his eyes. This was typical. The usual nonsense one would suspect especially when they were just getting into the groove in discovering all this neat stuff.

"At least we found this place before he did." The Blue hog noted.

Tails nodded. "Of course. But with his clan of robots, it'll be impossible to excavate this place in peace...you know, with stuff being blown up an' all."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. They would just have to take him out the old fashioned way...and by old fashioned meant giving him a good ol' kick up the backside.

"We can make sure that his greasy hands don't get to touch what evers there." He declared.

Knuckles raised a fist. "Yeah. I mean, surely if he's here, there must be something good hiding within that Temple."

Sonic glimpsed at Knuckles. That's why Eggman's usually anywhere they were most of the time.

"Of course. I mean look at it. It's still in good shape after what, four thousand, five thousand years?" Sonic pointed out.

"Must have been built to be sturdy." Suggested Tails. "You can't say that for most ruins we find."

Knuckles huffed. "That's because Eggman decides to use the easiest method of getting to things."

"You ain't wrong about that." Said Sonic. It was time to get to work. Only they weren't getting paid for it.

\- - - - 

The trio decided to use stealth and follow Eggman's robots into the Temple. All three hid behind adjacent pillars on the front steps before heading through the large doors. Remembering what the temple looked like from the inside, Sonic flashed back constantly. The place had hardly changed. Only the paintings of gods and hedgehogs on the roof had slightly worn, as it would do over time. The marble floor was gone and dusted as Abbadonia's had somehow spread in here too. They saw Eggman sitting in his specialized hovercraft, a half cupped piece of mobile machinery. Before him was the crowd of specialized robots. The trio recognized some of them. The front row consisted of a tall chicken robot, next to him was a dark green, stout robot with treads and drills for hands. The second set had one short and silvery and the other tall and golden, like brothers. And finally two robots who could be mistaken for brothers as well as the other two, one skinny and could form into a small red ball, and the other very similar and could warp back into medium sized black and yellow box.

Eggman's head went from side to side, facing his front row of special machines.

"Welcome gentlemen, to the Temple of the Prophets. I have either ordered you or purposely reconstructed you to...aid me in a new project of mine. But first! Let us introduce ourselves, as I bet we haven't even seen one another in a very long time."

He waved his hand over them and faced the first robot. The lanky chicken nodded.

"Uh..hey all. I'm Scratch. How you all doing?" He said with nervousness.

The stout dark green brought his drills together. "Greetings my brothers. I am a Grounder at your service."

The short silver one bowed down. "I am Bocoe."

The tall gold one did a courtesy. "I am Decoe!."

The red Ball waved his hand about. "I am SA-55 "Orbot."

The yellow and black box swirled manically. "Hey everyone! I'm Cubot! Pleasure to meet yas!"

Eggman nodded. "And as you all know I am the number glorious Dr. Eggman! Your true creator. One more for the beckoning?" He said, while a Sonic-looking robot came forward.

"This is Metal Sonic. One of my greatest creations!"

The six robots shook in fear as Metal Sonic glared at each and everyone one of them. Metal Sonic's deathly stare with it's crimson and jet eyes bored into the mechanical souls.

"I am holding a little competition for you all. For my new project I need two very special volun- I mean eh...companions...yes..." He snarled, rubbing his hands together.

"What is this plan of yours Doctor?" Asked Decoe.

Eggman made an evil grin as he intertwined his fingers.

"This is Rosales. Once known as the Kingdom of Hedgehogs. No, this has nothing to do with Sonic I assure you. For this plan is so...dastardly not even he can hope to destroy it!"

"Not that if I have anything to do with it..." Sonic mumbled as they watched from a distance.

"Here lies great treasures of old! Treasures that are glorious! But also can be quite deadly indeed!" Egghead said with malicious glee.

"What kind of treasures your repulsiveness?" Picked Scratch. Sonic didn't miss their voices at all.

Eggman licked his lips as a he whipped out a remote. A neon green hologram projected from the front of Eggmans Eggmobile. The hologram consisted of a coveted artifact, a small ball with numerical runes on it.

"This is what you will be looking for. It's called the Sphere of Abyss. It was said to been used by the Prophets to punish their perpetrators by sending them into a pit of no return. Then, maybe then! I will be able to rule the whole planet with an iron fist!" Eggman announced.

"Sir if I may?" Asked Orbot in his nice calm tone.

Eggman was busy grinning and stroking his 'stache. "Yes what is it?"

"What if everyone would eventually rebel? Do you have any sort of back up plan in case this fails?" Orbot replied. Sonic didn't mind the smaller bots, they were...sort of smarter. But more annoying.

Grounder rolled his eyes. "Of course he would stupid! Robotnik always has a back up plan!" He retorted. Orbot grunted. "Hey don't call him that! We can all be civilized people right?" He wondered.

"The Doctor does not go by that name anymore." Bocoe argued.

"Sure he does! He'll answer to either!" Scratch fired.

As the robots argued, Eggman face-palmed. "Take care of them will you?" He requested as he turned to Metal Sonic. MS Obeyed and produces a shock wave of energy, temporarily paralyzing the six.

"Listen up dingbots and you pieces of scrap! I need you all to cooperate on this!" He belted.

Each pair looked at another. "Now shake hands!" He ordered, crossing his arms.

"Can we get some tea too?" Pried Orbot.

Eggman ignored him as all of them shook hands. "Now that's over and done with, I want to place some rules and boundaries for this competition."

"Rules? Since when did you have rules?" Grounder wondered, scratching his head.

"Since I said so!" Roared Eggman. "The rules in place are: The first pair to find this treasure will be my sidekicks for the project. The rest will relay orders from the winners onto the rest of the lesser robots."

"That doesn't sound too hard." Said Decoe.

Eggman shook his head. "Oh no...of course not. Except for all the booby-traps that could be situated in the sacred tomb of Shizaru, the 72nd Prophet."

Six gulps were heard in sync. "But it will be easy for those brave and smart enough to avoid said traps and claim my prize." Eggman sneered. All saluted.

"Of course we are!" All said in unison. Eggman laughed. "Excellent! Now only one thing! If any of you decide to...lessay cheat or try to run! I have Metal Sonic linked to all of you, so if you aren't here, we will track you, hunt you down and melt you down and raise you back up as my new electric razor. Got that?"

Not a mind spared the thought of becoming the nightmarish experience of shaving the Good Doctor. Even the Trio gagged in retrospect, just imagining it made them sick.

"Ho ho ho! Now go! Go get my treasure! Meet me back here when you find it!"

"Yes sir!" They replied, before bumping each on their way out, causing Eggman shake his head in shame.

"I don't even know why I planned to use them instead of actually using a set of competent robots..."

He muttered. Metal Sonic just stood there. "Perhaps you should have."

Eggman grunted. "Grrr I don't need your opinion. Come on. We have work to do."

\- - - - 

As Eggman and Metal Sonic left the temple, the trio conjugated together. This was going to very interesting, at least it was more exciting than what they were already doing.

"So Eggman is still up his old tricks huh?" Stated Tails.

"That's no surprise. Does that mean we get to bash up some more junk?" Said Knuckles, with a glint in his eye.

"I certainly hope so. I was getting bored doing nothing anyway." Sonic replied.

Tails frowned. "But Sonic, we haven't finished excavating..."

Sonic shifted it off. "Maybe we can do both at the same time. It'd certainly make the whole experience a lot more interesting."

"If you say so..." Tails mumbled as the three walked out of the temple together.

\- - - - 

Meanwhile, three shadowy figures lurked upon a balcony above the temple floors.

"Well ladies, here's the mission all in a hunch..." Said a seductive and husky voice.

"I have no complaints about it. Just when and where to we have to start." Said a more girly but serious voice.

"I'm packing and ready to blast." Said an older yet sweet voice.

"Alright let's move out!


	2. More is Less

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After arriving at the Garden of Rosales, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go into a gauntlet to find an artifact before Eggman and his bots do.  
> Though Sonic continues onward, he becomes preoccupied when more surreal occurrences come to pass as he meets another hammer-wielding individual who's name does not start with the letter A.

Chapter 2: More is less.

_And then she sends the whispers of doom to her opposers, voicing darkness to their souls._

Out of the vengeful eyes of one Dr. Ivo Robotnik, his henchman and jolly orange badniks, Team Sonic walked out of the temple, evading robots where ever they could. Tails was deep in thought on what they could do. Knuckles was keeping a look out, while Sonic's mind had trailed off elsewhere. Shizaru's voice ran through his head. Find her...

The only distinctive clue was the colours of the fur. The historical society of pink hedgehogs varied in shades of Rosoideae Pink and Stupilite Blue filtered throughout. Albeit, was there something to back this up other than vivid visions or lucid dreams? He wanted his own solo investigations, not wanting to worry the others with such nonsense. Tikal had given them hers to most of his friends including a robot, but only Sonic saw it this time. Tails would put the supernatural behind his back and yet the Superstitious Knuckles would go into hyper drive with his Echidna background. Both would eventually believe or disbelieve, depending on the circumstances, but for some strange reason he didn't want to explain. He had no choice but to go alone. But...that too would raise questions. Sonic...holding the balance of belief and skepticism knew that he needed to keep a keen eye on all details, disparaging certain truths and upholding others. He could possibly slip statements through cracks and nothing more to cause alarm. But where to start? What could he look, say or do to start it off?

He turned his attention to Tails book. That had sufficient information to cipher off. In fact, it was perfect to find a good starting point. He walked over to his two-tailed friend, looking over his shoulder to see what he was reading.

"What ya looking up buddy?" He asked. Tails head didn't even budge. "I was looking up the Temple of the Prophets. Says here, the first Prophet helped bring together the House itself by fortelling the union between the King and the Queen. Succeeding prophets would also create the Wisers...ehh...oh dear..."

"What is it?" Wondered Knuckles.

"It's said that the Wisers were chosen from lower class peasants of the caste. They would have to go through many trials. The Prophet would choose the one he or she foresaw to have great potential as a Wiser. The House forced the chosen to be put through the Gauntlet and in the end each would find themselves in a different area, where Witch Doctors would do one of three things."

Sonic tilted his head. "I don't like the sound of that..."

Tails gulped. "Neither do I. It says that. One witch doctor would destroy the ear drums of one, another rip out the vocal cords of another, and...the last would tear out the eyes of the last."

Knuckles had to check his own for clarity. "Yikes. That doesn't sound...pleasant." He said, albeit delibrately understating it.

Sonic thought about that for a moment. It would explain why the girls he had encountered. It made so much more sense.

"Kikazaru..." He murmured... "Iwazaru...Mizaru..."

Tail's head rose. "You say something Sonic?"

Sonic stood back. "Uh...nothing...I uh...can't believe such a brutal method was used."

He needed to find something interesting to, what Sonic believed, got Tails off Sonic's own problems.

"What about the Gauntlet? What does it say about it?"

Tails flicked through through the pages back and forth several times, then found a piece of jagged paper somewhere in the middle. "Oh...it seems to have been ripped out."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "Where did you find that thing anyway?"

Sonic then had an idea. It peaked and it was wonderful...a certain trail of words that could get him somewhere. His question was the answer. He began examining the book closer. It appeared to be made of old leather and red silk. and the words and diagrams were drawn with old ink. The paper itself had aged.

"This? I found it at an old bookstore back in Station Square. The lady was real nice, said I would probably need it more than she would."

Bingo. That sounded like progress. Sonic smiled slightly.

"Huh...why don't you ask her why the page was ripped out?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Come on Sonic, we don't have time for that. We got to get to that artifact before Eggman does."

Shoot. Sonic knew his excuse wasn't as good as he thought it was. "Oh okay..."

He tried to think again. He knew Eggman or his cronies (knowing their intelligence) would be highly unlikely to find it, then again they actually might. He wasn't too sure. There could be a chance two pairs could find it, end up fighting over and break the damn thing. But...even in his heart as well as using common sense, his logic was flawed. Eggman had improved them...but to what extent hadn't been shown. He would have to worry about the book later and find this particular artifact.

"I suggest we find the Gauntlet then." Sonic suggested. Tails nodded. "We might be able to find it in the map in the Courtyard."

The trio headed back towards the main courtyard and straight to the map on the wall.

"Well, we're here." Said Knuckles, pointing in the southern area. "That's the temple..."

Sonic examined the map carefully. There were various bits of small, medium and larger grounds.

"Well, we know it's used for trials, so I doubt its small. Perhaps a mixture of medium and large areas." Tails stated. Knuckles nodded, he noticed an unusual looking area, west of the temple, darker than the rest.

"This bit has spirals and has a hieroglyphic stating "Maze of Rosales." He noted.

Sonic, as per his usual impatience, gave a thumbs up. "Well, that's good enough for me."

He said, as her zoomed off. "I should have been surprised..." Knuckles said sarcastically, following up with Tails.

Avoiding most of Eggmans robots as per stealth requirements, Team Sonic approached the Western parts of the city. The came across ferns and forestry, encountering the odd Abbadonia along the way. Soon enough they came across some more old ruins. In their strangeness, the ruins consisted of three doorways going into the darkness of the underground. This definitely had to be the Gauntlet.

"Well, since the book can't provide us with intel, we'll have to go in one of them." Said Tails.

Knuckles crossed his arms. "Which one do we go through though?" He asked.

Sonic approached the middle one. "Well, maybe we should split up. We each take a path and when we each find something interesting we'll bring it back here." He suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Agreed Tails, giving a thumbs up. Knuckles had a closer look at the emblems above each doorway.

"Each of them mean something, probably describing the kind of path each has. The left one says 'Silence.'" He said, as he moved on to the middle on. "This says: "Voiceless.'" He turned to the right doorway. "Darkness."

Sonic tapped his chin. He knew each must of corresponded to one of the Wisers. Deaf, Dumb and Blind. He wondered who had the best of each. Looking at Knuckles, he had a lot of talent for a treasure hunter and a guardian. He needed him to go where there was hieroglyphics, but was weary for Tails as well, who needed to speak for himself. He wasn't sure for himself. But would eventually find his way. He was willing to sacrifice visibility for the others.

"I want you two to see where you're going. I'll do the Darkness path." He said.

He didn't know what was in store for him in the darkened path. But he wanted to make sure each of them were okay with it. "Say Tails, you could do the Silence path. I need your vision and your voice. Knux...you do the Voiceless path. I need you to hear and see what you're doing. Any objections?"

Tails, a bit afraid as his tails were tucked between his legs. But he soon shook it off and gave a fist to Sonic. "I can do it!" He nodded. Sonic turned to Knuckles. "I'm okay with it man. No sweat!" He said, pounding his mighty fists together. Sonic grinned. "Alright. I want you all to be careful down there!"

Sonic smirked. He put his right fist in the middle of the trio. "Brofist!" He said. Knuckles and Tails put their adjacent fists in and clashed with Sonic's. "Good luck!" Said Tails.

Tails was the first to go down his. He took a deep breath and went down the doorway. It was darkened first, until he reached a suitable area complete with an already lit torch, which lead him to believe somebody was already down here. He gulped. There was an inscription on the wall. Pity he couldn't understand hieroglyphics. But then he saw a hand print underneath them. He tilted his head in curiosity. He mindlessly rested his head on it, activating some sort of projected hologram from beneath the inscription, to find that they were in a language he could understand! He read it out loud:

"Hear not, my humble child. For all it is you need to see and speak for."

Tails felt his head rumble for a moment. Before the rumbles stopped and the hologram disappeared. Tails scratched his head. "That was weird." He stated. But something wasn't right. He couldn't hear himself speak. He went to the opposite wall and whacked it with his fist. He felt it, but couldn't hear it. At all. He started hyperventilating and held his ears and wrapped his Tails around his legs.

"I'm so scared..." He stuttered. No...he wasn't going to be like this. He had to be strong. For Sonic...for Knuckles. His best friends. He shifted back up and stomped his foot. "I agreed to do this, and I'll see to it to the end..."

\----

Knuckles headed the doorway of Voiceless. He plundered down through the darkened hallway into a viable room. But it turned out to be a dead end. "Darn it..." He muttered to himself. He looked at where the Torch had been lit. Somebody had been down here before him. He'd have to thank them later for their sudden usefulness. He looked at the inscription on the wall with the hand print and read it out loud.

"Speak not, my strong and noble. For all it is you need is to hear and see for." He read, accidentally putting his hand onto the hand print. He felt a sudden jolt in his throat. He took his hand away from the print and started to cough. Looking up, he went to open his mouth to speak, but soon found he was unable to. He tried multiple times, even to scream. But alas, he failed. Shaking his head, the wall next to him rumbled, and rose. His path was official opened. He pounded his fist into his hand and nodded to himself, before heading forward...

\----

Sonic was the last to enter. Taking a big breath, he wasn't too sure what to expect. Anything could happen down there. He made his ward downwards, onto his unpredictable path. Armed with hyper-awareness and a look lot of attitude, he could do this, with or without eyesight...

The only thing he saw down there was the torch lighting up a minuscule portion of the room he'd entered into. But there was no way out. Taking to his initial experience and problem-solving skills, he'd have to crack this piece of the puzzle. He noticed the hieroglyphics on the wall, then the hand print. It was odd, dusty as expected and...warm. Like someone had used it before. He had to ponder for the moment, whether or not it was such a good idea to do so. He tried knocking on the limestone block walls, but had no such luck. He kept wondering about the wall of text, it was bothering him as such. He wished Knuckles was there but then remembered it was his decision to split up. Idiot Sonic. Then again it was the Darkness Path. It might be a rendition of the word, being unable to see, or even understand.

"Being left in the dark..." Sonic whispered to himself. He turned around to head back to the surface, but the doorway had disappeared. He was trapped. The only good thing was that the torch was still on, but it didn't help much, just to know that Sonic was not in total...wait...

Maybe that was it. If he let the light out, the doorway would open. He sighed. He wasn't going to risk touching something he shouldn't. If all else fails, he would have to do it regardless. He had no choice in the matter. He could there and wait for eternity, or he could start trying. He grabbed the torch of its handle and smash it to the ground, stomping it with his foot. Soon enough, it was pitch black. He stood there for a few moments, waiting for anything to happen...

Rumblerumblerumble...

Sonic could hear it, feel it, taste it, smell it. But could not see. Darkness was literal. Once again he had to feel his way around in the direction he could hear it, carefully treading towards the open door. Soon enough, he'd found the exit, but not the one he was looking for. His eyes became sore as he constantly rubbed them. He was embarrassed by the fact he had to crawl around on his knees to get anywhere. He also wondered if echolocation could assist him. Maybe listen to any sounds that might be near. Sonic then clanked the walls and focused his pointed hedgehog ears on alleged bangs and scratches. He hated going this slow, annoyed by the fact that his patience could wear thin at any moment. This plus the crawling...so degrading.

Trekking on for quite a while, Sonic was growing insane. Within an hour of crawling in dirt, hearing the wind was quite the ironic breath of fresh air. But no doubt this was not the end. He was sort of getting used to the hearing around him part, within that space of time everything was becoming louder. He had become dependent about it, that he knew how the real visually disabled people felt. But no, Sonic did not need pity from others, if he could save the world more times than he can remember, surely one little Gauntlet was nothing compared to them. But...there was no smashing robots or bad guys or what not. Just silence...allowing Sonic's mind to wander elsewhere...

It went from person to person...checking and rechecking everything and everyone he ever knew.

"!"

Sonic almost fell into a ditch. His breath was loud enough to allow him to level the and estimate the depth of the ditch. Going from his echoes, it looked pretty deep. The wind howled down in a spiral like fashion, causing a slight chinking and clanging sound from the bottom of it. Something was down there, he knew it. Sonic just took it in his stride to make his way past it from the side. Now he had to be real cautious...

But he couldn't help but think, as it the internal voices in his brain made for much better conversation than with dust and wind. His knees were chafing by this point, and his hands extremely dirty, gathering by the dusty taste he was getting by accident. But...again...he had to focus. The pain was part of the plan. He was going through what the Wiser, Mizaru the Green, had to go through.

Eventually Sonic had felt his way to a cliff side, albeit smally congratulating himself on avoiding several ditches, pitfalls and just general old holes along the way. He was surprised with himself, for the first time in ages, he was exhausted. Not physically, just mentally. It was...strangely fascinating how it had drained such an energetic, always moving, hedgehog. His brain hurt...

He took the time to have a small break from all this feeling business and sat on the edge of the cliff. He tapped his scraped knee and contemplated...

He was eternally left to wander, hoping at least some sort of craziness...ANY kind of craziness, would save him from this boredom. He wondered how Tails and Knuckles were coping, want to get Cream for her birthday, if Rouge was busy hunting jewels, if Jet was still racing, if Blaze was okay, if Marine was still building, if Chip was having happy dreams, if...

Amy was OK. She'd been in the corner there...nudging about. Sonic imagined her flailing her hammer about to make some room, make sure no one else had that piece of his thoughts. So that part of her would be his. She would be with him. No doubt in reality this had been caused by her persistent pestering. She wasn't a bad person...in fact far from it. It was just...her forcing herself onto him so much that she'd broken through his thick skull and sitting there. Nagging and nagging for him to marry her. She must have known he wasn't so keen. He'd acted somewhat repulsed by her actions. Then again, had he done it first? Was the impact of him saving her all that long ago that also, cracked through her mind and that tiny little image of him was etched...sown...melted...bored...nailed in so tight...it was painful to let go. He felt like apologizing but how would he approach the subject? She might not even understand the problems Sonic was having. Better yet, what problems? Obviously some people have contributed so much to others that it's practically legal for them to buy a plot of land in their mentally built towns. Either positive or negative...you have your fat cats and your poor...winners and losers but usually the forgotten ones are those the middle, the ones that are just there for the delicious pies at the local cafes. They come and go, but only own the tiniest portions of property. So why was it that Amy had one of the largest mansions?

Compared to Tails, his and Knuckles were sort of the same size, if not slightly smaller. It wasn't fair. Amy is still a friend. She should have the same size as all the others. He couldn't touch it, not legally. He could visit it, see what more she has. What she has that the others don't. Then he could realize. Nonetheless, he couldn't control it. She resides in her house.

A cracking sound disturbed Sonic's thoughts. He then heard voices in the distance. Two distinct voices that he could recognize. He got up from the cliff, finally free of his brain, and tried listening in the conversation...

"Idiot, don't let go or we'll both fall..." Complained a rather, strained and cranky being.

"My treads can't hold on much longer..." Moaned the other, desperate and childish being.

Sonic rubbed his chin. He definitely knew those voices, but had to identify them. "Hey is anyone there?" Yelled the cranky one.

"I'm here! Do you need any help?" Sonic yelled.

"Finally..." The two said in sync, before the childish one almost sounded like he slipped.

"GROUNDER!"

"Sorry Scratch, the rail is too thin too carry us both!"

Scratch...Grounder...those two he hadn't encountered in years. He wondered briefly why Eggman would bring them back after all this time. Didn't matter though, he finally had company and someone to listen to...yes...he was that desperate.

"Hang on! I'm coming to get you!" Said Sonic. He didn't know how, but he would find a way. He theorized if he used his ears to get in on their location. But then remembered what Grounder said...

"Hey did you say you were on a rail of sorts?" He asked.

"Yeah." Said Scratch. "It's a two rail system, so Grounder was using his treads to go over it, until the rusty junk decided it would be funny to slip."

"No I didn't you doofus! You were busy trying to adjust my torch and I got distracted and fell." Grounder retorted.

Sonic face-palmed. But now he had sufficient info. "Where's the rails?"

"If you're at the cliff, they should be in front of you. Be careful though, there's a slight gap. Scratch had to stretch out in order for me to get across." Grounder replied.

Great. Now he had to estimate the distance by using a combination of sheer luck and sound. He decided to do a runner, then scream, using the reflective properties of the metal to create the echo as he ran along and judged the distance between the cliff and the rails. If he got this wrong, he was a dead hedgehog. By instinct he closed his eyes, even though that was completely pointless, as he jumped back into the air, yelled some more then tried to use the wind through his quills, which he had stolen but not quite perfected it to the extent Knuckles uses it to, to slow his descent. He shouldn't be scared, but his heart was pounding, worried he'd keep falling. He took a deep breath and made a few noises again. Alas there was a faint response.

"Ah!"

His hands fell onto the ends of one of the rails. His legs dangled before he forced himself back up.

"I'm okay...I'm okay..." He said. Although he wasn't sure if the others cared. Most likely they were in it for themselves as long as somebody saved them. Turning to his side, Sonic put both his feet on the tails, and soon started grinding downwards. This part was easy, as keeping balance was a sinch. He'd used the screeching sounds to pertain any certain spaces or blockages that would stop him, other than that, he happily grinded his way up, down, around, jumped from rail to rail and looped towards where Scratch and Grounder were. The screeching soon indicated that they were nearby as he started to slow down.

He then bumped into an object, in which always shifted and made Sonic almost trip.

"Oh there you are. We could hear you from ages away!" Grounder grunted. "Good! Now let us up!"

Sonic wasn't sure how he was going to do this. The rail itself was only 20 centimeters wide. He tried to think of what to do in order to keep his balance. "So...Grounder is it?" He said, acting subtle in order to keep his identity from the pair. "Yes are you dumb?" He retorted. "Okay Grounder, so the other one must be Scratch right?" He asked. "Of course moron! Geez..." He croaked.

He knew what Grounder was like, but he would have to get up second because of the sheer awkwardness of how the tread was balancing. Pull that up and risk Scratch falling in an instant. He held onto the railing with one hand and stretched over to find Scratch's hand with the other.

"Take it!" Said Sonic. Scratch, without hesitation, grabbed a quick hold of Sonic's as Sonic dragged him up. "What about me?" Moaned Grounder. "Don't worry, I'll get you up." He said. As soon as Scratch as safe, well, safe as you could be, balancing on a thin rail, Sonic took Grounder's hand and picked him. Scratch somewhat assisted, putting his long chicken legs into a spread, with one leg firmly on the second rail. "Okay, on three...one...two...THREE!"

The two zoomed Grounder up, as he once more fell onto the pair of rails nicely. Scratch wiped his forehead. "Phew, what a close one..." He exasperated. "Thanks a lot there...who ever you are."

"Don't mention..." Said Sonic. Scratch hopped back on Grounders back. "You coming?" Asked Scratch.

"Yeah..." Replied Sonic as he jumped in front of the pair. "I'll be first, use what ever tech-uhh use what ever you have to get across, like you did before you fell."

"Absolutely." Agreed Scratch.

"No distractions!" Said Grounder.

Sonic then slid his way around, the distance between him and the two robots increasing by the millisecond. Sonic smiled as he heard a more thudding instead of a claning and ringy ching, as this was possibly the end of it. "Guys, I'm at the end here!" He said. "Don't worry about jumping or anything, because the rails merge with solid ground."

"We're coming!" The pair yelled in unison. Sonic wanted to keep moving, but would feel guilty if he left the two by themselves. It was still dark, so he safe for a little while longer...he hoped.

The pair crashed into the ground as they reached the end. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Hey hand off that!" Yelled Scratch.

"Get your foot off my a-"

"Okay that's enough you two. We have to keep moving or else we'll never get out."

Sonic heard the pair straighten themselves out. "Yes our savior!" They said, suddenly grateful.

Wonderful...actually, not sarcastic. If they now worshiped him, he could use that to his advantage. But he still had to be subtle in his words. "Hm...I wonder if we have some kind of sound wave device? That way we can hear our way through."

Sonic heard Grounder huff. "Pff...we've been doing that for ages." He mentioned. "Yeah." Said Scratch. "Even though our eyes or lights don't work, we still have other devices to aid us."

"That's what I'd like to hear!" He said, smiling.

Grounder stood in front, while Scratch and Sonic stood behind and let him do his work. They would let Grounder emit the waves, while Sonic and Scratch would interpret it as they will. They walked alongside the soundless paths once more, the stuff that made Sonic insane before. He'd bring conversation to break the ice, even aid them a little bit more. But that would not aid him, bringing doom to his despair to the fact that they would eventually find out who he was. Eventually his thoughts came flooding back...

In between all this came some weird ulterior motive. For everyone. Whether it's power or sheer curiosity. It could end either differently or the same. Sonic was on the side of curiosity. Both ways were dangerous. It wasn't at first it intrigued Sonic until Tails had mentioned the flower...

The Abbadonia...Amy...The Prophetess and the Wisers...that demon. What linked them all?

The Rosiodae...Rosales...Muriel? He remembered Tails mentioned two names. Muriel's Garden, or Garden of Rosales? Muriel might be something completely unrelated, or one of the founders. Original founders. He remembered that Tails still had the book. Darn it. Why did Muriel pop into his head? No matter. He had to be focused. What ever plagued his head could easily be run off. But...he simply couldn't. The grinding was fun, that was for sure, but he wanted to move. Move his legs to shake off his worries and see the wonders of the world one more time. But he was here. Cold, dark and cramped. Dirty and dusty with two broken-rebuilt robots from his earlier days.

Shizaru had said she wouldn't see him again until he had found her. Her...who was she? Amy still picked at his mind, barging in on his conversations again Why? Why Amy? Surely there was something different. Her origins. Again she never spoke about herself. The only thing he knew of her was of her Hammer, interest in him...her friends...shared dislike of Eggman and his ilk. But there was something missing. His mental perception of her had hidden it deep inside of her mansion, refusing the burst out and cry out to him. Did it really not matter what she did at the time? Now he kinda regretted it. Not once did he attempt to have a discussion about herself and her family. It never came across his mind. Damn it Sonic, you were so selfish...he thought to himself.

Yet she was very very persistent. She could figure out him easy but the opposite...not so much. She had devoted so much time and effort trying to get him to date or marry her and yet his rejections. That girl sure was incredibly stubborn for. Then again, he was as well. He wouldn't mind a change in the wind but a relationship was probably too restraining. But...maybe Amy was willing to run too...run with him to nowhere and everywhere. If she had tried everything to grab him and succeeded, she would most likely do anything to make him stick, including running. Yeah...he could train her to run faster, get her a new pair of shoes. She'd become a female Sonic in no time...

No...I mustn't think that...He thought again. Amy was a friend he was willing to help out if ever she was in a trouble or needed something OTHER than a pritzy relationship. He didn't need it. She did. He often what she would do if she ever gave up pursuing him? He'd hoped she would go with a nicer guy who was willing to settle down with her. That's who she needed. Not him. He couldn't handle it. His heart ached at the thought of it. The pain shrilling his nerves. No...she needed someone else. He would hardly be there for her. Damn it...why does it hurt to neglect?

"Uh...I believe we've hit a wall." Said Grounder. Sonic quickly snapped out of his minor trance.

"Seriously Grounder...can't you just mash it or something?" Scratch moaned. Grounder used his drills to bore through the wall. Surprisingly it was being effective, according the loudness that the drill was making. It crackled softly, then hard, then soft again. Dirt most likely.

"Okay stop let me check it." Sonic suggested. He walked over to the wall and feathered it with his finger tips. It was indeed dirt gathering by the rough edging. He slammed his fist through, making a legible hole. "Alright you two, I think if we work together I'm sure we can get passed this a lot quicker. I'll need the pair of you to both slam through as hard as you can okay?"

"That's easier with my drills." Said Grounder. No sooner had he said it, Grounder was busy boring again while Scratch with clawing his way through, with Sonic throwing bits of rock and dirt away from the area, time to time hearing a chinking sound. "Sorry Grounder." Said Sonic, although he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

Sonic could then feel a burst of wind filtering through his fur. It was nice, albeit a bit cold and chilly. He could smell something wet and hear drips. Great. Water. He was screwed. Maybe not?

Scratch and Grounder could aid him, guessing even as idiots they had swimming programmed.

"There might be a pool of water nearby. Any volunteers?" Sonic asked.  
"I nominate Grounder." Scratch answered.  
"Why me?" Grounder moaned. 

"You've got some inbuilt boat don't you?" Scratch pointed out. How Eggman tolerated these two in the past was beyond Sonic's knowing.  
Grounder shuffled around. "Oh alright...geez..."

Grounder was first to tilt himself over, finding out that it was another cliff-side. Scratch held onto his treads as Sonic grabbed onto Scratch's scrawny chicken legs. Using his hand, Grounder tried to extend himself to find solid ground. Sonic's theory had been proven correct. It was water.

"Okay, carefully lay me down so I can activate the boat thing." Said Grounder. Scratch slowly but surely rested Grounder, with the shifting with Grounder himself, a blowing sound apparent, alongside the resting of a thinnish plastic on liquid. Scratch helped himself on the contraption that Grounder blown up. Sonic jumped on board as well.  
"Full speed ahead!" Seared Scratch. A rudder shifted on with engines running. He wished Grounder would have lights on, but they weren't working at all. Sonic tried focusing on the rudder to chase his thoughts away. He couldn't run them away which became more frustrating by the moment. Scratch and Grounder were awfully quiet, probably they themselves were focusing on not crashing. Sonic could do that as well. He felt his way to the front with Scratch to listen around him.

"I wonder how deep this is." Said Scratch.  
"I don't wanna stick around to find out." Sonic stated.

He could take the time to probe the pair on snooping on Eggman's behalf.

"So...what are the pair of you doing down here anyway?"

"Well, we were on a mission from our boss to look for something." Said Scratch.

"Yeah...it's to help take of over the w-" Grounder said before being muffled by Scratch's hand.  
Scratched just laughed nervously. "What he's trying to say is that it's gonna make the world...uhh...a better place."

They hadn't changed. Sonic just smiled. "Ah okay cool. I'm just lookin' for stuff too."

"Really? Well it could be the same thing we're lookin' for..." Scratch suggested. To Sonic, it was, but he decided to screw with them anyway. Just for old times sake.

"Nah mines different..." He motioned, scratching his head. "I'm just an ol' curious civilian."

"Are you an archeologist?" Asked Grounder.  
Sonic thought for a very brief moment. "Well you got me." He lied. No harm in doing so.  
"Wow so you must know a lot history then?" Awed Scratch.

Sonic chuckled nervously. "Y-yeah...quite a bit."

"Do you know much about this place then?" Poked Grounder. Sonic only knew what Tails had read out from his book. He really did wish he had it with him. That made the perfect excuse.

"I had a book on me...but...I lost it along the way. So I've had to come through here solo."

Scratch tapped on the side of the boat. "Our boss was looking for a book, but said there was only one copy of it. So he went to make his own observations." He explained. Wow, those two were still dingbots, but were far more intelligent then they used to be. Even on the surface if you couldn't tell but there was certainly a major change in the pair. Sonic had to keep on guard for any sudden change from himself. They spent the rest of the time speeding along what Sonic realized have had to been some underground lake. The trip was rather long and quiet, Grounder had to be had going along at least a 2 or 3 knots tops. Again it'd gotten to the point where Sonic's inner self was splurging out unintelligible or mixed messages in the traffic of his thoughts. Some crashing and burning, eventually coming out as nothing but thoughtless junk that meant nothing to him. His held felt, letting the faint splashes of droplets hit his fur. Then suddenly he heard voices, whispers in the air.

"When are you gonna learn...that it is time to move on from these things...you can't let the battle go forever when there's no one left to fight..."

The voice was soft but gravely. He knew that voice. Tails.

"Tails is that you buddy?" He asked. No response. Instead the voice got louder.

"It happened suddenly I know that. But you had to push it. Push the blade further in until the pain was no longer there, but instead they'd been dead for before you even reached them."

Sonic shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Then what was the point of having the blade in the first place?"

"Hey you there?"

Sonic blinked. The boat had stopped moving. "What's the matter?" He asked.

"I heard a noise." Said Scratch. "It sounded like a monster!" Grounder shrieked.

"I'll deal with it!" Said Sonic. "But how? We can't even see!" Scratch retorted.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way!" He said with pride. He shushed the pair as he listened to what ever was around him.

WHOOOSH

He jumped as something had whipped across them. He landed on a squishy surface, regaining his balance in the meanwhile. Unbearable screeches forced Sonic to shield his ears, he didn't need to be deaf as well...A force of wind made him hop once more, bouncing across a little closer, to a rather fishy smell. Reminded Sonic of a terrible cake Knuckles once made for some reason. None the matter, Sonic didn't hold his nose, as he needed spare limbs at all times. Each bounce brought him worse scents that he almost vomited because of it. He could tell he was on a tentacle of sorts judging by the soft and thin leverage. A massive deformed octopus? Most likely. Sonic followed the wind and lent his ear around to dodge each tentacle trying to grab a hold of him. His hand accidentally felt something else rather squishy that made his stomach churn even more. Sonic went into a spin ball motion and squished the eye, the scent worsening and blood going everywhere.

Sonic had to jump again. The tentacled monster was still using them against him, but rather flailingly, which meant Sonic had found its weak spot. He knew it was extra mushy than the rest. An eye maybe? He regretted using his hands on the scaling surface to find the next eye, all the while dodging the tentacles in several go's. Eventually he found it, and spun his way into a ball and forcibly squished it, before rolling up in the air and get the thing on its head. Sonic had spun extra hard and the monster squealed as hard as it could, almost deafening. Sonic smirked, thinking he had one, as the creature sounded like it was dying... "Victories mine boys! Sushi sent me a message before to kick your butt into the next roll! Haha!" Sonic punned. Scratch and Grounder just made begrudged growls. "Come on, we gotta keep moving!" Scratch announced. Sonic made the effort to head back to the boat ready to move on until...

_WHAAAAACK!_

Sonic was sent flying deep into nowhere, before hitting water, knocking him out cold...

\----

_All the while the dreamer dreamed, those in the found worlds fled in panic, like lost children..._

Sonic heard the whispers of a graveled, demonic voice. It was all that responded to him. No sight, no cold, not hot...nothing but words of a brokered demon. 

_There is choice Mr. Thorn. Give in or give out. A dreamer can't dream forever, or risk heading down further into the hedgehog hole._

No...he hadn't found what he was looking for. This was not the girls. It was that thing, taunting his mind endlessly.

_The pit is right for you. Endless...you can always run because you can never hide. Run forever little Hedgehog. For what use is it to make sense of the unsalvagable? It's a mess up there and down here is so much safer. You are indeed all surface and no inner depth. Do you even attempt to dig deeper? Is there a need for the faux behavior? You are the last dreamer, where others have failed wake up would you join their stead? No. You won't. I know you. I've always known you. You are predictable..._

Sonic's mind drifted. Constantly. The voice in his head abandoned him and now he was left alone with question with no answer. He could die here, alone. Darkened by madness...the demon was keen to break his spirit. He could tell. But a soul made of steel could not be broken. No way he was gonna give up. He was just warming up.

"I'd tell you to shove it up your cake hole!" Sonic roared. "You have no idea how I feel. You yourself are alone which is the main reason this shindig started."

_I can tell you now Mr. Thorn I did not start it this time..._

Sonic floated away into nothingness. The demon's presence lingered and almost seared his soul. Just another pointless dream...a nightmare that could be beaten into submission.

Then light...light that shined brighter that he could no longer feel the demon near him. There was also a faint grasp in his hand, felt like the hand of a Guardian Angel, feeling a warm breath through his lips and very groggy. Indeed all faint but there...no doubt about it. It was powerful enough for the doubt to melt away into the water that clogged his ears. The light of his angel, his savior...

He could feel himself being dragged across dirt and slammed down on the ground. For what little consciousness he had, it didn't help. His sight had not yet returned as the light faded away. The waterlogged hedgehog had his chest pressed upon constantly, spitting and gargling in the meanwhile, before finally waking up, coughing like mad. He sat up from where he was and had a hand behind his back as he was gently leaned onto a wall.

"You okay?" Said a deep feminine voice. Her. His Guardian Angel. Her voice was strangely familiar but he couldn't place it. "I'm okay now...thanks..." He spluttered. "You were out for a while there. Your friends here were deeply worried."

Sonic's head dropped from side to side. "My...friends?" He said groggily.

"Your robotic friends." She explained. Scratch...Grounder...he went along with it.

"Yeah we were worried!" Exclaimed Grounder.

Sonic heard a chink and a clank on the wall beside him. He gathered by the smell of sweat and wet fur, she sat right next to him. 

"You were out for the count. I witnessed the entire ordeal." She told him, as her voice echoed from her helmet.

Sonic rubbed his head. "You mean you saw the whole thing?"

The lady must have hit something plastic. "I have night vision goggles. I got through here easy."

Scratch crossed his arms. "That doesn't make sense. We lost our vision completely. No lights, not torches or anything." He complained.

"I would have to agree with Drumstick here." Sonic mumbled. "Wouldn't any sort of machine or device stop working completely?"

The lady sighed. "Mine didn't...I don't understand why. I actually did not understand that until these two mentioned it while you were out cold."

"Huh..." Sonic muttered. "So what are you doing here?"

"..." The lady purred. "I'm part of the Femme Fatalex team. We're here on a rescue mission."

"To rescue us?" Grounder hoped.

"No..." She replied. "To rescue a lady named Muriel. We've been looking for her for weeks."

Muriel?

"Who's she?" Asked Scratch.

"Muriel was the one made the original discovery of the Garden. It was named after her. She insisted that others leave it alone for their sake. We suspect someone had kidnapped her in order to find what she had all those years ago. She's a considered and a well respected archaeologist." The lady responded. 

That made sense. Muriel's Garden. It interested Sonic. "So do you know who kidnapped her?"

The lady huffed. "I am not at liberty to say. It's classified."

Sonic shrugged. These types always had something to hide. "I understand." Although, it was obvious who might have done it.

She gave a brief nod. "But I am currently stuck. You see, because I wasn't affected by the Gauntlets curse, I didn't garner the gift to become the key at the end. I was actually coming back the other way until you three came." 

Grounder clapped. "Yes! We're gonna finally get to the end!" He squealed.

Sonic smiled. "That's a relief. This place is giving me the creeps." He said with relief.

The lady helped Sonic up onto his feet. Her hands warms and comforting. "So do you have a name?" He asked. "I'm Agent 41v19. But you can call me Mjöllnir."

Sonic scratched his head. "Uhh...can I just call you Olly or something?" He wondered, realizing Mjöllnir might be a bit hard to remember or even pronounce. "What ever..." She replied, apathetic.

"Just follow me. I know the way to the end. There's one more minor trial that you must go through though. You beat the Tentacled Beast but the last bit is a bit tantalizing..." She explained. Sonic did as she said as he, Scratch and Grounder wandered on behind her. "You have the curse and the gift, therefore can open the final door to reach the end. This is supposed to teach you NOT to trust your eyes. Lucky my night vision goggles avoided most of the impact...but the noises...are insane. You thought the silence was brutal before...but no...this part makes me shudder."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "But you must have gone through twice to get back here. How did you handle it? I mean, besides the goggles of course."

Olly sighed. "You run. You run like you mean it. You will bump into things from time to time. I can't quick step." She explained.

"I can." Said Sonic. "If you know your way through of course. If I had checked properly, this is supposed to test your audio focus. If you can mentally filter out the garbage from the important doodads, then you will get through fine."

Sonic nodded. "I can take it on. Don't worry about me!"

\----

The quad walked along, following behind Olly in toe. Sonic began to hear strange mutters and pondered if they were close. Scratch and Grounder kept to themselves mostly, gathering by their small whimpers they were deathly afraid, possibly hearing things as well as Sonic.

"Listen up you guys, we're close. Sonic, I want you to go in front. I will follow up with the other two. We're gonna be right behind you if you have trouble." Mentioned Olly. Her tone was awfully riddled with authority.

"On it!" Sonic said eagerly, as he trekked in front of the others.

Little flickers of white light carelessly whispered down a long and very narrow corridor. He took a deep breath and realized he feared what he couldn't see. Knowing Olly had night vision goggles did little to pander his fears, knowing he had to act stronger and look stronger. He dusted off himself and did a few stretches. A few hours or so of not running did that to him, making his muscles weak.

"You ready?" Asked Olly. 

Always "Yeah..." Sonic replied.

"Good..." She said. "Just remember, focus on the reality part. Anything else that is not a wall or a pillar is not your friend. Avoid everything at all costs and don't stop running. Trust me on that."

That sounded like something born from prior experience. What ever the consequence was, it was definitely not pleasant. 

"Why?" Sonic asked.

Olly took a deep breath. "Because. It took longer for me to actually go through the first time then it did the second time. The whole thing is based on a illusions and tricks. You won't know until you have completed it."

Great. Tricksters in the midst. Sonic knew he had to keep a sharp ear out. He went into a lunge position. "Good luck." Scratch and Grounder said in unison.

WOOOOSH...Sonic was off in a instant. He was initially met with the drifting white wispy lights that didn't seem to bother him. But in fact help him. But they were the only things he saw, helping determine where the pillars and walls are. He kept running, side stepping a few times as per his natural recent skills. He just bolted through, and felt good because of it. The running of his worries, the fearless he usually had. Oh how he longed for it..oh how he..huh?

He skidded as he ran past what appeared to be a ghost. He walked backwards slighting to see someone's back to him. They appeared to be crying,weeping into their hands. Ignoring Olly's advice, completely forgetting it, he approached them. "Are you okay?" He asked genuinely.

"DO I LOOK OKAY?" Said the demonic voice, whom turned around. 

Sonic was slightly startled. "A-Amy?" He stuttered.

She was literally a ghost...complete with translucence and grey undertones. Her eyes were pitch black. Sonic raised his hands in defense. 

"Uh..what happened?"

"I'M DEAD SONIC AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" She roared. Black tear drops fell from her eyes. Sonic shook his head.

"What did I do?" He asked, more scared than he was worried.

From behind her back she brought out her hammer. "HOW COULD YOU? I LOVED YOU SONIC!"

Sonic kept walking back, then remembered that it wasn't real. He was an idiot for stopping in the first place. "DON'T RUN YOU COWARD!"

Her voice deeply frightened him on a level he'd never felt before. He'd never seen her like that, but it definitely wasn't her. She wasn't dead. He'd only seen her just recently. Running again, Sonic became determined to make it to the end. He sidestepped several times and dodged pillars. But the voices wouldn't go away.

"Sonic it's Tails. I sorta got stepped on by a monster and now I'm dead. Sorry I sorta failed you..." A muttered serenaded. No. Tails was not dead. He had to focus. "Sonic dude...I got eaten...you'll have to do this on your own..." Spoke another demonic whisper, though Sonic could tell it was Knuckles.

Damn it Sonic...focus! He ran faster and faster, eventually ignoring the pillars and smashing them up, causing explosions behind him.

"Can you take care of the plant for me Sonic? It's actually growing quite well. I can't remember why I was growing in the first place. I'll see you some other time."

Run dammit run...it's not real. He focused on shutting everything off. Everything. The only thing he could was keep going forward.

_"Sonic...why do you keep running? It's pointless. Everyone knows you're a fake."_

Sonic began panting. No...he was stronger than this. Keep that frontier up, it's important. His heart pounded faster than he ran. Well, according to him anyway. He knew they weren't real, but why were they bothering him so much?

"Hey..."

Sonic stopped and opened his eyes. He found himself standing in a slightly lightened area. He looked in front of him. A curvaceous woman wearing some sort of coveted-spandex like material, with massive black boots and a round helmet with the cooky night vision goggles that were something that Tails would wear. It wasn't too bright, but he saw the tones of Scratch and Grounder examining a door.

"Come on...I need to show you this..." Said Olly. She grabbed his hand and brought him over to said door. Her hands flung to her hips. "These two tried doing it themselves, but I'm guessing they need more someone more organic." She explained. Sonic shrugged. He waltzed over to the door and had a brief squint. He could barely see, albeit brought on by faint lighting.

"Hey does your stuff work yet?" Sonic asked. 

"No not yet." Grounder replied.

Sonic could see Olly staring right at him, making him rather uneased. "Wait, you're suggesting I do it?" He queried.

Olly gave off sarcastic vibes, as he should have known. "I did say that you had the curse and the gift. I had my tricks of the trade but unfortunately none of them will work for this." She explained. Sonic tapped his foot.

"Well...alright. But are you sure there's nothing behind there for me to be concerned about?" He asked again. He did NOT want to go through that again.

Olly looked at the door. "No. Well, maybe...I don't know. There's only one way to find out. You up to the task or what?"

Sonic smirked "It's been a piece of cake so far. Why stop now?" He gloated. 

If he could see her face, he imagined that she'd have a smirk. "That's what I'd like to hear." She responded in kind.

Sonic pushed through the two robots and examined the door with what faint light they had. With his fingertips he caressed the molded stone to find something. Not before long he reached a deep indentation, like a print he had seen at the start of the Gauntlet. Pressing down hard, the room started to rumble slightly. Dirt and stone fell from above as the door slide upwards. Scratch and Grounder fled behind Olly who just examined the event. The door opened completely as the four of them walked in.

The room was larger than the rest. It had to be at least ten meters high. The roof, the floor tiles, the pillars and tables were all a jet black marble. Light suddenly flash from the corners of the room, finally giving them some decent vision. Sonic had to shield his eyes from the onset agony. He rubbed them again before a blurry vision was stood before him, everything eventually becoming clear. The lights aimed towards a dais on the other side. Beside them grew healthy Abbadonias.

He carefully approached the dias itself without going near the flowers. On top of the dais was a flat surface, inscribed with claw marks, old blood and weird heiroglphics. Olly took off her night vision goggles and investigated the room. Scratch and Grounder took one look at Sonic and gasped.

"Wait? SONIC THE HEDGEHOG?" They both screamed in unison.

"Shut up you two, he saved your lives. Deal with it..." Olly barked. She saw countless hieroglyphics around the walls, even on the roof.

"This must be where they did the procedures." Olly presumed. "The Witch Doctors would pull out the eyes of those who took the Path of Darkness, knowing all too well that the Wiser had passed or was killed in the long run."

Scratch and Grounder were busy fumbling to each other and couldn't believe it was Sonic the entire time.

"What are we gonna do Scratch? What if the boss finds out?" Mumbled Grounder in his worry. 

Scratch was just as scared. "He'd be furious!" But then had an epiphany and leaned in to Grounders...invisible ears. "I have an idea...Sonic must be searching for the artifact too! So he will be able to lead us to it first!"

Grounder possessed an evil smirk. "Great idea Scratch! I would never have thought of that."

Olly walked up beside Sonic as he was checking the slab. "So...got anything?" She asked.

"No..." Said Sonic in a disappointed tone. "I need Knuckles to translate it for me."

Sonic looked at Olly. She had her night-vision goggles on top of her head, but her helmet was like a motorbike one, so he couldn't see her face. "Well, from memory, the end of the Gauntlet had a Witch Doctor for doing the ritual on all of those who dared enter it." She explained.

Sonic rubbed his chin and scanned the room. He'd hoped for a vision of sorts to come across his mind, but nothing happened. The one time he need help from the paranormal and it rejects him. He turned back to Olly. "So this might be the place where they happened. Spooky."

Olly confronted the two robots. "You two. Look around..."

Scratch and Grounder looked at each other. "What should we look for?" Asked Grounder.

"Anything of the obvious...traps, buttons and stuff that either has relics or a clue to the way out." Answered Olly.

"Yes Ma'am." Scratch said, saluting. The pair scattered around searching for what they could. "You do know they work for Eggman..." Sonic muttered. Olly shrugged. "I know. I just wanted them to not bother us for a while."

Sonic nodded. "Ah okay, I see what you mean..."

The two covered around the dais and the slab. Olly went over to the back to see if anything could either be pushed or moved aside. "There's gotta be something the Witch Doctors used, like a escape route or a button that released a ancient safe."

Sonic looked puzzled. "Wait, what was down here in the first place? Were you hoping to find that sphere?"

"Thats one of many things down here. Now lower your head for a moment..." She ordered. Sonic knelt down to her level. "The Sphere of Abyss was one of seven artifacts of the House of Rosoideae." She whispered. "Used in conjunction with the other six would release a powerful demon in the world."

Sonic nodded. Though he wondered if the demon was the same one he'd seen several times before. It was highly coincidental indeed. He suspected Eggman knew the amount and was carefully searching for them, but why it was one of a time he didn't know. There was a lot he didn't know.

"Also remember how I said I was looking for Muriel? With the factor with Eggman possibly kidnapping her for information could be my chance to stop his plans. I am concerned with her safety however." Olly continued, a bit worried.

"I doubt Eggman would be that cruel..." Sonic muttered. "I mean, he's kidnapped before, plenty of times. The only thing I would worry about would be if he stuffed her into one of his robots."

"That too." Continued Olly. "But she's getting old. She found this place well over fifty years ago."

Sonic was surprised, but it left a lot to be answered. "If she did find that long ago, how come nobodies come here until now?"

"She released her book not long ago. It was all mythical and she wouldn't dare tell the general public. The book was aged, sort of clampy with a red silk cover. Dusty most likely. She said she'd sold it to someone the other week. My guess Eggman heard about her exploits, and wanted the book for himself."

The book would have been priceless in Sonic's mind. Anything detailing historical discovering would have been far too valuable to place in anyone's hands. So who did she sell it to? He checked back to Scratch and Grounder who were busy, then headed back to Olly.

"Who has it now?" He whispered. 

That's classified. In fact, who ever has the book itself is in pretty grave danger." Olly proclaimed.

Sonic thought back to her description of Muriel's supposed book. Where did he see it? He knocked his skull with his fist to try and knock the sense into it. Old...red...dusty...

His eyes went wide. "Tails..." He muttered. Olly stared at him.

"Hm?" She huffed, curious.

"Tails has the book..." He whispered. 

Olly nodded. "Where is he?"

Sonic frowned. "He's doing the Silence Path of the Gauntlet." He replied. Sonic had hoped he was alright, as that vision earlier gave him horrific shivers down his spine.

. "I see. It'll be okay, one of my girls went in there earlier. If he has any luck he might bump into her." Olly stated with words of comfort.

Well at least someone would look after him. Tails could handle himself than Sonic gave him credit for but Sonic had that big brother-like instinct to worry. 

"Let's hope so." He said.

Olly reached further down behind the dais. She tilted her head, examining some sort of extremely small button of sorts. "They might be behind here, kicking from behind to make something happen." Olly believed. Sonic went around to have a look. 

He saw it too. "You might be right. It does look awfully suspicious."

Sonic watched as Olly reached down and tried to push, before he grabbed her arm with his mind flashing with various scenarios, all of them ending badly. 

"What are you doing?" He gasped.

Olly glanced at his hand. "Let go of me..." She said coldly.

Sonic's face changed. "You don't know what that button does!" He said, contemplating whether to retract his hand. 

"We're not getting out of here the same way. The Gauntlet doesn't allow it. We either sit here, wait for nothing or we press this button and see what happens..."

Sonic grumbled. She was right. Maybe he was just being paranoid. "Okay...press it then..."  


Olly huffed. She moved her finger on and pressed the minuscule button.

The two stood up from where they were, awaiting for any response or sign. Sonic tapped his foot with impatience.

"Well that stinks..." Sonic groaned. Nothing had happened.

"Maybe we should press it-AHHHHHHHHH!" Olly screamed. Sonic turned around. That tentacled monster had returned. "Its the Kraken! Hurry Sonic! Grab the others and RUN FOR IT!"

Sonic shook his head. "No! I'll help you!"

The tentacle had risen out from one of the many marble tables and wrapped itself around Olly, restraining her from using her arms.

_SMASHSMASHSMASH_

AHHHHHHH

Sonic spun around. Scratch and Grounder had also been snatched themselves as more tentacles appeared. 

"Sonic! It's gonna drag us underneath to it's lair! Quick! If you're gonna save us all, take the lid off the middle table and drop down below! It's the-" Olly yelled before she was cut off, being dragged down in the Krakens lair. Sonic nodded. He bolted to the middle table and with more effort than usual he pushed the lid off enough for him to fit through, and headed straight down. He used his quills to gently float downwards. Using this slow descent, Sonic had time to look around as soon as he exited the hole and entered into a wide open space, more like a darkened cave with bits of bluish light seeping in through various cracks on the walls, completely with spikes hanging from above and pushing up from below. This time he had a good look at it. It was huge. The beast was highly deformed and definitely had more than the usual eight tentacles. There had to be dozens both big and small. It reminded him of a pile of dirt, the aroma less than appetizing than a rotten fish inside a whales corpse that someone had vomited up. Moss and mold had grown over bits and pieces, and dirty yellow with black slit eyes were jumbled up. It was a complete mess. It's mouth was on the top of the triangler goo pile, round and full of circular rows of razor sharp teeth. The beasts many blue-green rolls pulsated, with the bottom around a pool of hazardous violet water surrounded, making massive bubbles that burst out. The Kraken had the others dangling upside down. Sonic managed to make it to the flattest part of the bottom and contemplated how to do this. He searched around the cave for anything in particular for him to use.

"Sonic...the only way to defeat the Kraken is to drain the fluid its living on. I see several pipes in the room, at least four of them." Olly yelled. "Twist the handles!"

Sonic nodded. He looked down to see now that the violet water had risen slightly and that he was an elongated ledge. Scanning for the pipes, Sonic formulated a plan to get to each one, but with the Krakens tentacles being fickle and tameless, it could be tricky. Dodging a thwomp from the aforementioned, Sonic hopped on corresponding ledges. He had to stop once the water got too high, all the while dodging whacks and whips. He leaped into the air and jumped, hopped and shifted from ledge to ledge, on which each one got smaller and smaller. He kept an eye on the others, in which Scratch and Grounder were about to be eaten first. 

"Oh no!" Sonic yelled. The pipes could wait, lives were at stake. He spun himself into a spin-ball, rolling up one of the tentacles and homing in and bouncing off the eyes and other strange anomalies that had grown from it, and kicked the tentacle off the pair, knocking them down. The tentacle let go of the pair, but they did not like the look of the water, and clung onto the rubbery scales of the Kraken. 

"You two okay?" Sonic asked. The two shook their heads profusely. Realizing he might need help in the matter, he wondered why he didn't even do it the first place. Deciding he would save Olly as well, he used his mighty abilities to bouncing off each eye and object again to spin dash straight onto the tentacle strangling her. It fell off, loosening its grip around her and setting her free.

"Thanks Sonic!" She said with gratefulness in her voice. 

"No problem!" Said Sonic, giving a thumbs up, all the while dodging a whip again. "Olly, can you fight it off while I turn the handles?"

Olly nodded. "Sure. Leave it to me!" She spoke with her sure-fire voice. Sonic watched Olly summoned a giant spiked black and silver hammer out of nowhere, causing him to gasp.

"Oh no not another one!" He said sarcastically, remembering Amy with her Piko Piko...hopefully Olly's wasn't as bad. Although gathering by the spikes...

He jumped into the air once more as Olly began smashing regrowing tentacles left and right. Sonic jumped from ledge to ledge to reach the first pipe. He stood in front of it and rotated it anti-clockwise with minor strain. After it tightened up, some of the water had started to dissipate. 

"Alright first one done!" Sonic yelled.

"Good job! Three more to go!" Olly replied, smashing a tentacle to bits. Sonic focused back on the next handle to turn. He repeated the same process several times over, with Olly's persistence, endurance and other positive fighting attributed made sure the others were safe from harm, as Scratch and Grounder continued to cling onto the rubbery scales. Finally, Sonic made it to the last one and turned it around tight, causing the Kraken to suffocate from lack of water. Sonic gave a fist. "Success yeah!" He said with pride. He grabbed Scratch and Grounder alongside Olly and brought them to the highest cliff edge to watch the creature die. Sonic wiped his forehead and turned to Olly. 

"That was good team work!" He said, giving a thumbs up.

Olly withdrew her hammer. "Oh it was easy....wait.... Look!"

All four gazed their eyes on the Kraken, which seemed to be trying to cough up something as it was dying. 

"The artifact!" Olly gasped. She took a starting run, using momentum to jump across to the mouth of the Kraken as it spat up to what appeared to be a golden key. Unfortunately Olly hadn't planned what she was going to do after snatching it, falling into the Krakens mouth.

"Olly!" Sonic cried. Sonic went into a spin-dash and forced Olly out. Sonic jumped up and grabbed hold of Olly as he leaped onto another ledge. Olly faced Sonic as she lay in his arms.

"Thanks Sonic...for saving me...again..." She muttered.

Sonic felt his cheeks warm up. "Aww it was nothin'. I do it all the time!"

Sonic placed her down beside him as she stood in awe looking at the golden key. 

"So what's that open?" He asked. 

"Not sure. Once we find Muriel we'll be able to know. Actually, finding Tails with that book might help even more." She replied.

Sonic nodded. "So how do we get out of here?"

"Hey Sonic!"

Sonic blinked. Suddenly he was standing back out in the fields with Tails and Knuckles. He faced Tails who seemed cheery. Eerily cheery in his opinion. 

The blue hedgehog shook his head. "Well, sort of." He replied, seemingly confused. 

"What do you mean sort of?" Asked Knuckles, concerned.

Sonic shrugged. "You wouldn't understand."

Tails rolled his eyes, his face contorted into anger. "I wouldn't understand? I went through lightning and all kinds of crazy stuff, bumping into Decoe and Bocoe who being threatened by this tall lady with a rocket launcher!"

Knuckles looked at Tails unsympathetically. "That's nothing, I barged in on those weird tiny robots and walked into a lady who had a real kick that was kinda of familiar."

Sonic couldn't help but laugh. "Hah...you guys...we can tell our adventures later on. I think we still have work to do..." He said. In reality, Sonic was deeply troubled. He noticed Tails giving him a massive scowl. _"You know our world will fall apart and you're joking around? You really are naïve."_

_"I said I found something while I was there. A Golden Key. I also had to fight off a Kraken, but the...tall lady, who called herself Agent Bazooka."_

__

__

Sonic thought back, Olly did mention that she had friends in her group...what were their names again?

"Mine was Agent Hooves. She sounds like a real cow. " Knuckles punned. Sonic and Tails groaned.

Knuckles laughed nervously. "Uhh... and I also found a key...hehe.."

Sonic crossed his arms. 

"Yeah I had Agent Mjöllnir. I nicknamed her Olly." Said Sonic. Knuckles and Tails exchanged looks. Sonic stretched his arms. "Yeah it was pretty exhausting. I'm actually kinda hungry now. Do you think we can take a break?"

Tails face palmed. "Sonic...what about Eggman?"

Sonic huffed. "Don't worry about him. It'll be a while until he gets anywhere." He explained. He then looked at Tails. He needed to find out what was really going on...and the real genius in here would have the resources to help them. "While we're out for lunch, do you think I can have some reading material Tails?"

Tails scratched his head in confusion, perplexed by Sonic's question. "Uh...do you normally read?"

Sonic sighed. "Look. Olly told me something interesting that Eggman might not know about yet. Also we have a missing persons to look out for. A woman named Muriel."

Tails eyes went wide. "Wait, that old lady from the book store? Why would anybody kidnap her?"

"Lets head back to the Tornado, we can discuss it there..." Knuckles suggested.

\----

Soon enough, Sonic had prepared chili dogs for them all, having secretly stored them in the Tornado's storage compartment.

"So...who kidnapped her?" Asked Tails, deeply concerned.

"Well, Olly did say that Muriel wrote a very important book. I'm thinking it might be yours Tails." Sonic told him.

Tails pulled out the booklet. He turned to the first page and scrolled down to the bottom. "By Muriel Rose."

"Rose?" Knuckles muttered as he was about to take a bite. "Wait...she can't be related to Amy can she?"

Sonic huffed. "I'm sure there's more than one family of Roses." He retorted. Although, this was highly coincidental, with a lot of evidence pointing towards Amy, the fact that Shizaru and the entire Rosoideae's factored towards look-a-likes had to be more than that. Or that Olly possessed a Hammer too...he had to run quickly. Run as fast as he could. This was far too much to filter. Sonic watched Tails as he flicked through the pages. 

"So she wrote this huh?" Tails mumbled. He had his head down, as Sonic noticed he was a little blue.

"Whats wrong Tails?" Asked Sonic, worried. Tails sighed. "She must have known she was going to get kidnapped...why else would she give me this book?"

Sonic rubbed his chin. "Good point there. Well, when and if we find her, we can ask her about it. Okay? She might have rubbed someone the wrong way and hung with the wrong crowd. Who knows? Could be anything. As long as we can get her back." Sonic said, wrapping his arm around Tails neck. Knuckles agreed, although he was rather skeptical. "Unless that 'Femme Fatalex get to her first."

Sonic shrugged. "That too."

After lunch Sonic decided to take a nap from the troubles of the world underneath. Most of the stuff he had seen was rather...graphic...conflicting. Confronting could be a word to use...but...what was there to confront? It tumbled in his mind. As well as Amy. She wasn't even here and yet she was screwing with him. He blamed himself in part of not knowing her better. He thought once Muriel was found he was going to go see her himself. Although it might have been a bit rude to bombard her with questions such as this. Maybe she didn't know herself. It could actually just make her complain about barging in. He could ask if she was a relative of Muriel. Little questions first, big questions later. That sounded like a legitimate strategy. He then drifted off...somewhere he did not know...

\----

_Leaking the waters of the Underneath was a good idea. A Stupilite would get into the chambers of the Kraken and save the girls from certain death. The Elders did not like it, but the Prophets demanded it. The Rosoideae Elders wanted determined Wisers. Death was a message that they were not the chosen. But the Prophets insisted that their spirit was worth saving._

_The Rosoideae Elders were constructed of pride. They believed in their image and their wealth. The Prophets warned them of this behavior would bring about the demons. But they did not listen._

_The Prophets warned them that their pride would be their downfall. But they did not listen._

_The Prophets warned them that their greed would bring destruction to their lands. But they did not listen. The Rosoideae Elders built their world on top of potential, originally determining the unifactions of Kings and Queens until the first Rosoideae Prophet was found. It was then the split happened, because the first Prophet was the sister to the King, and was next in line._

_The House was divided into three. The Royals, who would take care of most leadership affairs and wars, the ones who made the decisions. The Elders, who would take care of political prospects and make suggestions to the Royals. The Prophets, including the Wisers, who would then make further suggestions and warnings, such as floods and threats to the homeland. The fourth unattained faction of the Rosoideae Stupilites brought upon bright, bold and powerful soldiers that the Elders could control. The King and Queen had given them authority to do so. Soon the Elders became the oppressors, owning banks and dealing with money. They sent the Stupilites to War with other counties purely because of Pride and Greed._

_The Prophets need to mate with a legible Elder in order to create the next prophet, believing the trait was hereditary. The Prophet was not allowed to mate with a Stupilite Hedgehog(nor could any other Rosoideae Hedgehog) The Elders were xenophobic. It was never clear why. Some suggested that they had a history with demons and could not let the Prophets blood be tainted._


	3. Yes, I will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic, Tails and Knuckles explore more of the Garden of Rosales, as Sonic sees more into the past. They also visit the Garden of Sakura and catch up with a familiar Chameleon.

After an afternoon of congested information and mildly-trafficked adventure, Sonic inhaled through his nose, smelling the blessed spicy scent of his much loved food. He had a fallen asleep atop the wings of the Tornado, laid down with his hands behind his head and stared back at the multiple clouds flying over him, meanwhile bouncing his right leg over his left, dancing his foot around. The air was humid, but with a nice gentle breeze cutting through blades of fur it was nothing to complain about. Gathering where the sun was it was getting later in the day and made him realize that this was going to be a late lunch. Not that it mattered, chili dogs were good for any time of day. Moving his hands to a stable ground he got up slowly to see how it was.

Knuckles was at the portable barbecue with Tails preparing the plates. It was routine, seeing how Sonic only had so much space in his spikes, Tails could hide the goods in the plane. Knuckles had a reputation of strange cooking habits. Some days he was good, some were...not so pleasant. He also varied with what he cooked. He did meat very well, but when it came to bakery based food it was outright disgusting. No one would tell him though, not risking his wrath. His gullibility came in handing when one would tell lies. Sonic hopped off the wing and trekked towards the pair.

"How's those Dogs comin' up?" He asked, noticeably drooling ever so slightly.

Knuckles used his spatula and tongs to make sure they weren't under or over cooked. "They're ready now!"

Tails got the bread ready as he got Sonic's Special Sauce handy to slather the dogs with. Sonic impatiently waited as the two finished up. "Let's eat!"

The trio sat around on nearby rocks and ate slowly, although obviously one wouldn't.

"Sonic eat your food slowly or else you're gonna get heartburn!" Said Tails.

Sonic scoffed down at least three of them, causing Knuckles and Tails to roll their eyes. After they were done, they cleaned up, and stood in front of Tails who had Muriel's Book in front of him.

"Where do you think we should go next?" Sonic asked. Tails stroked the pages as he read.

"Well the Gauntlet wasn't much help. The Witch Doctors or any relics weren't there at the end. I'm guessing we weren't really chosen after all." The Fox said, his eyes streaming the text.

"You might have to be chosen by the Prophet to get the full results." Knuckles suggested as he nodded

"It's a possibility." Tails pondered He continued to rifle through the pages to find anything interesting or relatively useful. His eyes lit up.  
"Fascinating. There seems to be a transportation hub around here. Let's head back to the map in the courtyard to see where that might be."

* * *

Soon enough, they back inside the ruins, surrounding the map. Knuckles then nodded.

"Well the Temple is in the southern district, as well as this area. The Gauntlet is to the South West which is where we were." Knuckles said as he had to squint as he skimmed his eyes across. He was looking at a weird marking, which resembled a dark spiral inside a circle. There were hieroglyphics underneath.  
"Ah here, found it. They call it the Central Portals." He read. "Center District."

Tails whipped out the book and had a brief check.  
"Hang on, I think I saw something about that...uhh here! The Center District was also one of the most heavily guarded areas in the Garden. The Stupilites would protect the Transportation Hub with great caution. They also ran the ticketing system." The fox stated.

Sonic cocked an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.  
"Wow even back then they had a public transport system. Who knew?"

The three decided to tremble their way towards the Center District. It wasn't too hard to find, gathering as they got closer there were less and less ruins to spot. In matter of fact, the largest building they found had the foundations of a church more than anything. Complete with tower spires and white painted walls of brick, large wooden doors and writing on top that Knuckles translated as "Blessed Altruistic Deities Live In Eternity." Sonic gave pause. There was something about it that disturbed him slightly. Shaking it off it as just a bad hunch, he focused on something else, something that was missing.

"Does it bother anyone that it's missing the stain glass windows?" He joked. Tails and Knuckles followed him inwards. The room was huge. It was mainly empty floors with inscriptions on the walls. The only light came in through the door, which slammed suddenly. Knuckles groaned.

"Great, how now am I going to see?" As if granting him an answer, light came back in the form of the three fire torches on each wall lighting up the inscriptions and a larger one on the end wall leading towards a stair case heading downwards. The writing on the walls intrigued Knuckles. He mumbled the word lists several times before finally coming up to a conclusion.

"So what's the go?" Asked Sonic.  
"Believe it or not, these are price lists." Knuckles replied with a nod.

"Price lists?" Tails repeated.  
"Yeah..." Knuckles reiterated. "Price lists for going places. Most of them have deteriorated but I can name a few."

Knuckles mumbled to his himself again as he worked out the locations.  
"Alright, one of them is called Garden of Sakura. Hmm...funnily enough I have heard of that place."

Tails put the book under a lit fire torch and again flicked through. "It says here the Garden of Sakura was one of many Gardens that were allies with the Garden of Rosales and coincidentally forged a partnership as a result of the powers that lie below the Earth that allowed them to be teleported to one of several key destinations, which is also needed to the other artifacts."

Knuckles pondered. "I indeed know of Sakura. Its a distant land once ruled by the Ninja Clans."

"What's there now?" Sonic wondered.  
Knuckles shrugged. "Beats me. The rest of these boards of sorts seemed to have faded over time. It might take me a while to translate them all."

Tails closed his book and approached the other two. "There's a set of stairs over there. If the book states that there's powers down below, I'm analyzing that it might power the Gauntlet. The book mentions 'Powers'. I think we should find out what that is, don't you agree?"

Sonic agreed. "Sure."

The three slowly went down the stairs. Albeit where they were was highly dusty and old in nature. Finally they reached an area that gave all a surprised look on their face...

They had entered chamber of sorts, darkened by the lack of light sinking through. Sonic took a step before lights began flashing all over the places, eventually settling down and finally revealing the outlook.

It was a circular hall with uplifted and hollowed out roof. But unlike the rest of the ruins it wasn't a decayed beige nor was dust and dirt drifting through the air. Instead, there was no smell. The walls were a hardened black with plastic shine, long, blue thin tubes of light rounded on the space between the wall and the echoed inducing roof. The floor was a black with white freckled marble, non-tiled an unscratched. In the middle of the room stood was a four side dais with each side embedded with blue neon lit Mobikian runes. The top of the dais was a flat rock plane with miniature spiked walls, with four larger, shell shaped spikes on each of the four corners. Directly in center, being held by what looked like a metal glove clasping it, a black ball with scratches, orange glowing light seeping through the cracks, but also with written inscriptions. Around the room as well, stood, at least three meter tall doorways. No doors, just the equally black frames, with what appeared to be a keyboard etched on the left side of all of them. Sonic looked down and realized he had stepped on a blue glowing switch tile. No guesses for what had lit the room up. The three approached the ball carefully, keeping aware that any sort of movement or limb placement could trigger a trap or two. Sonic went forward enough to have a quick examination of the ball. Strange amber particles rose and vanished without a trace. He placed his hand near it, not touching it, just make sure that it wasn't booby-trapped. There was a strange aura of emanating heat.

"That might be the Sphere of Abyss." Suggested Tails. Sonic thought back to Eggman's projection. From memory it was nearly identical to it.  
"I wouldn't grab it if I were you. Something doesn't feel right about it." Said Knuckles, worried from the vibes he was receiving.  
Sonic retracted his hand, stepped back from the dais and began to look at the empty doorways.  
"Does the book say what these are used for?"

Knuckles went to the first one on the very left of them. Using his hands, he gently floated his hands over the viscous black marble. "I'm not getting any readings. They appear to be deactivated." He muttered. Meanwhile Tails flicked through Muriel's book to see if mentioned anything about it.

"The books description matches it, this has to be the Transportation Hub." He read out.

Sonic had quick glances at all of them. Knuckle's eyes went wide.  
"Hey guys take a look at this..."

The Hedgehog and the Fox went over to see what the Echidna had discovered. Knuckles knelt down and had his hands creating a circle over a familiar looking symbol with others next to it.  
"I remember the swirling symbol from outside. Here it says 'Portal 1'."

Tails checked through his book once more, then back to others.  
"Ah I see now. Makes sense."

Knuckles stood up beside Sonic. "What does?"

Tails walked around the room. "Muriel calls this the Transportation Hub. This is the Central Portal Room. Add this...let's just say it's the 'Sphere of Abyss' for the moment, as well as these doorways. Now you do the math..."

Knuckles scratched his head and made a dumbfounded look. "Uh..."

Sonic crossed his arms. "Wow that's an easy one. I'm currently getting the notion that this is like the train station of sorts. Without the trains."

Tails nodded. "I'm theorizing that by using the Sphere itself, by the assistance of properly managed gateways, that one can make a connection to other places, maybe different worlds if they wanted to."

Knuckles shook his head in disbelief. "Wait, you're saying that this is like...an ancient teleporter device?"

The three stood in awe of what they had discovered. Tails retreated back to the pages, while Knuckles quickly looked at the keypads. "Hmm...I'm thinking you need a particular password to get through this portals."

Tails faced him.  
"Maybe. Or maybe it was the ticketing system. If you had a ticket with a random number it, you might have to type it down on the keypad and the portal will open for you." He said.

Knuckles stomped his foot.  
"Great, now we have to find out where these 'tickets' are." The Echidna whinged.

Sonic kept staring at the Sphere. There was something...enamoring about it. Enticing, enchanting, enveloping. Such a device was not to dissimilar to the power of a normal Chaos Emerald or two. Except the Sphere had a more sinister ring to it. It's warmth embracing to say the least. It's darkness. Related to the demon. Had the Rosoideae bitten off more than they could chew? Stealing a demonic artifact is not without its price after all. Even though they knew so little of them, they actually had more knowledge and experience dealing with the Emeralds than these...what ever they were. But they certainly had a empowering factor. And that's what they were going to figure out.

Sonic then suddenly remembered the lists on the wall. The Garden of Sakura. Could be one of the places that one could travel to.  
"Hey Tails I had a thought." Sonic said as he scratched his head."The Garden of Sakura. It might have something to do with it."

There was no reply. Instead, echoing voices plumed down from the stairway.

"Tails?"

Sonic looked around. The pair had disappeared. In their place however, was a Pink Hedgehog standing in front of him. A male, wearing his spikes none to differently to Sonic's own. He wore a toga and wooden sandals, two gold earrings pierced in right ear and braces on both of his arms, of the light blue and silver varieties, encrusted with small jewels. He also wore a golden circular brooch embedded on his toga, with a darkened spiral carved into it. His eyes were a light green colour.

"Sir do you have a ticket?" he said in a rather, posh tone.

Sonic blinked. He checked himself over.  
"Uh...no...I don't." Sonic muttered awkwardly.  
The Pink one rolled his eyes.  
"May I remind you we don't have all day. If you want a ticket you have to get it from upstairs. Next please." He said, exasperated.

Sonic stood aside, as he had a long line of people behind him. Different kinds. From Hedgehogs, to Echidnas, to cats, even to Crocodiles and many types of reptiles. All colours, shapes and sizes. He might as well be part of the rainbow for all he cared. As he walked back to the stairway he watched as another blue hedgehog had approached the pink one. This Blue Hedgehog had shorter spikes, and wore some sort of metallic armor, not unlike the armor he'd seen on the Stupilites before. He reached for a sachet that was wrapped around his waist. He pulled out a piece of rare amber. The Pink one briefly examined the piece and placed it next to the Sphere. The Sphere then cracked more, revealing a more horrific nature by expanding and piloting a light to scan. The scan soon finished as the Sphere returned to normal. "Alright. You're off to Sakura. Please go to Portal 1." Said the Pink one as he gave Blue back his piece of Amber. "It's a Two Hour Full Fare. So please if you want to come back via the portal keep an eye on out on the suns positioning. Otherwise..."

The Blue one laughed. "I know the routine. It's okay. I'm just visiting briefly."

Pink cocked an eyebrow and smiled. "It's my routine to make sure, Gabe II. We wouldn't want to make your father worry."

Gabe II chuckled. "Don't fret, Teppo. Father has enough on his plate as it is." He said, walking towards the first gateway. Sonic watched as Gabe put his head down to look at the keypad, looking back and forth from that and the amber. The inside and outside of the doorway lit up with blue neon lights, waves of wispy cool air gusting from the sides, then a bright orange water like substance flowed down like a waterfall, the bottom of the doorway opening up to take the mysterious liquid. Sonic took a whiff, the scent of wet fur filling the air as the humidity rose. Gabe put the amber back in his sachet and walked into the waterfall. The orange water stopped flowing. Gabe was gone.

Sonic was amazed at the technology, although Tails would be the gushing and Knuckles rambles of historical techs would occur if either of them were there. Although these conspicuous flights through time were beginning to become frequent, they were ultimately useful. Albeit just as useful as Tails book or Knuckles point on archeological findings. Nonetheless Sonic had to make best a situation as he could. He ran upstairs to find a line of people waiting in front of a desk, with several others checking the boards for information. He wished he could understand what they were reading. Even though this had its perks, looking like an uneducated idiot wasn't on the cards or even worse, fearing that he could be an intruder and be attacked would not be wise to implement. Stupilites stood beside each torch as Sonic looked around. There was a desk in the back corner with a sign in hieroglyphics. He had to guess that was the help desk. The lady at the desk was another Pink Hedgehog. She looked profound. She had her quills up in a pony tail, a long white dress with the same brooch as Teppo pinned in near her heart. She had long golden sleepers in her ears and blue cloth wrapped around her right bicep. Her bangs were pinned back by simple patterned clips.

"Anyone else waiting?" She said. Her voice was soft, unsure of any strength she had. Sonic walked up to the desk and rested his hands on it. He had to give it a try.

"Excuse me ma'am." He said to her, hoping for answers.

The girl smiled.  
"Hello there...how can I help you?" She asked warmly.

Sonic had to make an excuse. Hopefully she didn't see him come up from below. He told himself he had to pretend for the sake of...well, just for what ever he had to do now.

"This...might be embarrassing...but I have never traveled using...uh..." He feigned stumbling.  
She just continued smiling.  
"Ah you're probably one of the new generation Stupilites born and grown here at Rosales. Now let me assure you if you've never used it that there's no shame for first timers. In fact, I was embarrassed myself when I first used it to visit family in Soleanna. But I was assured that there was nothing to worry about." She told him.

Sonic nodded. He'd visited Soleanna before, from memory there had been a festival there. Quite nice actually.  
"So...uh...what do I do?" He wondered.

The girl reached behind her to grab a piece of Amber and showed it to Sonic.  
"This is Amberite. We use them as tickets. You can purchase a variety of sizes that determine the terms of travel." She answered.

Terms of travel? Sonic thought.

"Incidentally, where are you planning to go?" She asked in sweet manner. Sonic wasn't sure himself. Not wanting to look suspicious, he spoke the first thing that came to his mind.

"Uh...the Garden of Sakura?" He answered out of the blue.

The girl clasped her hands.  
"Ah Sakura. Lovely place. Anyway we have a list of terms for the tickets. There are two categories 'Time' and 'Status'." She said.

Sonic tapped the desk. This was good stuff. She continued:

"Time elevates the length for how long the ticket will last. This can range from two hours to a year's worth. Status deals with your..age or social status. For example..." She leaned over the desk to look at Sonic quickly, making him confused slightly. "You seem to be manly enough." She said, obviously trying to flirt as she giggled. "You would most likely be a Full Fare. Children under twelve and those over fifty get concession. Although I would like it if they gave concession to the unfortunate."

As much as Sonic would like to know of these unfortunates, he feared he was running out of time where he was and had to garner the more important things. Besides, he was in the past. It wasn't like he could do anything about it now.

"Most people either get the two hour or the daily. What do you plan on doing in Sakura?"  
He had to think up an excuse to visit there.  
"Oh...uh...I met a friend from there who came here once. He said...uh...I should visit there sometime." He replied. Obvious lie.

Her eyes went wide.  
"Wow you have a friend from Sakura? You're lucky."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow.  
"Really?"

She nodded. "Sakura is a very peaceful and quiet place. The people are very conservative and tend to keep to themselves. They don't like too kindly on visitors but welcome those who respect their traditions."

Sonic believed Gabe must have a good reputation amongst their people if he had gone there. Although as Stupilites were known as the Guardians it'd be a staple. "Tell me, are they training your lot there over there now?"

Sonic looked up. "Huh?"

The girl winked and waved her index finger around as she leaned her elbow on the desk. "I keep hearing about these 'friends' all the time from you people. It's like a code. Don't worry, your secrets with me."

Sonic laughed nervously. "Of course!" He stuttered. He then looked around him. "So...uh...how much are these Amberites?"

"You'll need a daily for what you're doing." She said, checking her board. The paper she used appeared primal, made from papyrus. "Okay, a Daily Full Fare is twenty gold and two silver."

Sonic gulped. He forgot about the currency during these times. He checked the back of his fur for anything that remotely resembled gold. Just a few pieces of junk that must have flung into as he'd been running around. But alas, no gold or silver to be found. Sonic looked at the girl and shrugged.

"Sorry, I don't have any on me at the moment." He said, a bit saddened. The girl sighed. "That's okay."

Sonic froze for a moment. The air became still and the noise turned down to notch. Turning around, the crowds had disappeared, even the Stupilite guards. The torches were still lit and the room was in as good shape as it had been just now.

"Sonic the Hedgehog."

Sonic spun back. The girl was right behind him. Her eyes were incredibly dull and her notable smile was replaced by an unsettling frown. He gulped. "Who wants to know?"

Her hand rose from it's side, holding a piece of Amberite. It was bigger than the piece she had held earlier. "This is a monthly. You have an entire month to do your task. Or else she will come back."

Sonic tilted his head to one side. "What do you mean?"

"Hey Sonic!"

Sonic blinked. The girl had vanished into thin air. Walking once more, he was still upstairs. It was dusty and dull and the room had deteriorated back into crusty ruins mode. Yup. He was back.

Tails approached Sonic who had the Amberite in his palm, causing Tails to query it.

"Where did you find that Sonic?" Tails asked.

Again with the lying business. "It was over there buried beneath the rubble." He explained. He handed it over to Tails to see if he could get a better look at it. Tails hummed and harred as he glimpsed at it from all different angles. "Its colouring...appears to be the same as the Sphere itself."

He whipped out his book and flicked the pages. "Amberite. A resource only found deep within the Rosales Caves. It has the look and feel of Amber, but actually has unique properties only found within it." He read.

Sonic of course knew what it could do. Now only if he could somehow guide it towards the Sphere like the girl had spoke of. "Whats your opinion on it?"

Tails thumbed his lips. "Not really sure if it's relevant. The book doesn't say much about it."

Sonic guessed Muriel didn't go that far into her discoveries then. Or a few pages were missing. Didn't matter to him at that particular moment. Then an idea flashed in his mind.

"If it's the same colouring as the Sphere, could the two be related in anyway?" Sonic asked, hoping it wasn't too obvious. Tails thought for a bit. "It's possible. There's no harm in giving it a try."

Sonic nodded. He was glad this part went through for him. They both went back down to see Knuckles staring coherently at the Sphere. Sonic smirked. "If you look at that thing for too long Knuckles your eyes will burn." He joked. Knuckles jumped back. "Really?"

The Blue Blur chuckled and paid attention back to Tails. "Could we put two and two together like you say?"

Mutters were heard from up above, echoing, driving slight interest from the three. Sonic walked over to the stairs to see who or what it was. Climbing back up the stair case he managed to peak half his head through the space to look around, seeing a tall golden robot alongside a short silver one.

"Decoe and Bocoe..." Sonic muttered.

The pair held bits and pieces of junk and metal scraps. Judging from their body expressions they weren't too happy to be doing so.

"This is not fair, we were double crossed!" Complained Decoe, shuffling the junk about in his hands.

"Yeah. That Chicken and that green robot...who do they think they are?"

Sonic went back to the other two. "We gotta move. Hurry."

Tails was noticebly concerned and confused. "What's the matter Sonic?"

Sonic's impatience started to shine as he grabbed the Amberite from Tail's Hand and placed it near the Sphere. "Wait what are you doing?" Scolded Knuckles. "There's no time! Move it!"

The three stood in awe as the Sphere cracked open and started scanning the Amberite. Tails and Knuckles blinked with surprise. Sonic quickly grabbed the Amberite and headed to the first portal, hastily reading what appeared to be a code on the object. His fingers weren't as quick as his feet, but he was furiously tapping the keys and in no time flat Portal 1 activated, Air shooting out from the sides as it did before, the orange liquid spilling down from the top inside like a waterfall Sonic snatched Tails and Knuckles hands in the process and ran through the portal all in a super sonic second, their eyes enveloped in light as they splashed themselves through.

When all could see once more, the portal behind them closed. Sonic rubbed his eyes and muttered incoherently.

From where he stood, appeared to be a large shrine of sorts, with floor planks and black railings. Sonic walked down three steps to see ponds on both sides, overseen by elder willow trees that seemed to sway in the wind. Approaching the pond, which was covered with lily-pads and various water lilies, he witnessed not only his own reflection but the abundance of koi. He then turned down the path which was made of simple stone. Beyond that, however were rows and rows of Cherry Blossoms, whose leaves created a rain of pink in their wake. The sky was the cloudy gray, creating a backdrop alongside snow covered mountains. He scratched his head, this area was not familiar to him at all, although instincts told him otherwise. He turned back to see Tails and Knuckles, only to discover they had disappeared. He went back to the Portal, noticing Abbadonia's had speared themselves through the planks on both sides of the portal. Walking around the portal to see if there was anything else's besides the obvious, he soon gave up.

"Not again." He moaned. He guessed that they had been transported elsewhere for the time being. There was definitely something fishy about it all. He remembered Decoe and Bocoe heading towards the Central Portals and wondered if Eggman had anything to do with it. It was a complete mystery. All he knew was that Eggman was up to no good. As well as those girls that Olly mentioned before that were the 'Femme Fatalex'. He could find his way back to the Central Portal, or risk getting caught by Eggman's henchmen. Where ever they went...He sighed to himself. He knew he could on this alone. After all his Amberite only had a month to work, therefore the need to solve it quickly became a priority. The thought of Shizaru quickly came to his mind, mentioning having to find someone. Unseen guidance perhaps? That would explain the sudden split. Shizaru might be helping him from afar? No...she said she would appear again once he found who he was supposed to look for. But that doesn't mean she couldn't help. What ever it was, it excited Sonic for it was another chance of adventure. Who needs to look at artifacts all the time anyway? He gave a smirk at this revelation and sped off down the path...

Much of the scenery failed to change much, until he reached the start of a mountain. The trees simply vanished as he got closer, putting the side of his hand well above his eyes and squinting to see how vast it was. He stayed still as he heard a noise behind him. The noise was shifty and clunky, metal on metal type of thing, mechanical movements but not of the loudest kind. He turned around. A tiny little doll, wearing a red decorated in floral kimono, tied up black hair that was probably not hair at all and a snow white face with blushed cheeks. The doll just looked at Sonic, who just grinned.

"Aww aren't you cute?" He chuckled. The doll didn't budge, so Sonic walked up to it to pat it on it's head. He guessed she came from some miniature society, or even something similar to a Chao Garden.

"HYA!"

Sonic jumped backwards as the doll whipped out a razor sharp fan as it emitted a horrible screech. "Woah...last time I pat a doll!" He joked. More mechanical noises echoed across what was between the last of the trees and the beginning of the rocky pathways. Shuffling was heard as more dolls came out from behind each tree and rock, glaring at Sonic, flashing red eyes. Now was time to go.

He ran off again as the dolls chased him. Some tried to flop over others to get in front. But Sonic couldn't stand their screeching as he covered his ears. He witnessed a barrage of fans zipping past him. Damn those dolls were fast. As Sonic looked to his right a doll charged by, a blaze bursting from the bottom of it. It gave a nasty smirk as it tried to bump into him. Sonic jumped into the air as he dodged it, the force an explosion knocking him back. "Kamikaze Dolls? That's a new one..." He retorted as he landed back on his feet. The swarm of dolls huddled and tried to surround him, setting off timed beeps. There were simply too many of them for him, he couldn't smash them at risk of getting blown to pieces. He was screwed. Their screeches only got louder, making Sonic kneel down and hold his ears, bracing for death...

Suddenly hearing a whistle, Sonic looked up. Further up the mountain side stood someone in complete black spy gear, complete with full body suit, massive boots and a helmet, a darkened screen across the face of it. "Now that's not fair...it's like what, five hundred to one? Let's even it shall we?" Said a familiar female voice.

Sonic watched in awe as the dolls screeched with ultimate rage, flocking towards the person. She readied a jet black hammer with spikes, releasing the fury on the dolls, flinging them into the air and causing each one to explode. Sonic smirked. He joined in on the fun, leading the dolls away from the person. Some raised to throw themselves at him, him dodging each and every single one of them. Looking back to the other, Sonic noticed she was getting more than what she bargained for, the dolls numbers increased so suddenly. There were simply too many to whack at once. Every time she hit five, ten more came at her. "Damn dolls, why won't you give up?" She scrambled. "Sonic, the dolls have an underground pipe system, they come out of wells. There has to be at least several of them in this area alone to summon this many. Destroy the wells."

Of course...it was Olly. Who else would know that intel? He was genuinely concerned for her, knowing this endless horde of screaming, exploding menaces would keep at it no matter what.

"Trust me, I'll be fine. I can handle it."

Sonic nodded. He zoomed all over the place while Olly distracted the dolls. He found one behind a large boulder. Dolls were pouring of it, the well itself was made of metal. He tried to spin-dash it, rolling into with such velocity. The metal fell over, obviously not very well placed or structured. As a result the well was covered and the dolls continued to explode over and over but it did nothing. That was some strong metal.

He ran over once more, to the other side of the pathway. There was another one there and this time he did the exact same thing, causing the streams to stop completely. Olly knocked down the last few with ease, but also with notable fatigue. Sonic came running, then stopped to step back, glancing at the pile of destroyed dolls. Sonic cleaned his ear with his pinky. "Wow...homicidal dolls, who would have guessed?"

Olly laughed. "You obviously haven't seen Small Soldiers."

–

The pair took a break and sat down on nearby rocks. Sonic relaxed for the moment, interested in how or why Olly was here. "So...what is this place?" He asked. Olly snuffed. "Don't you know? We're in the Garden of Sakura, or what we like to call it, Blossom Hazard Zone. Those dolls we fought are called Kimmibots."

Of course! He briefly remembered what Knuckles had read out before. How could he forget? It was the first thing that entered his mind when he was talking to the girl as well. Back into the game, Sonic began querying. "We? You mean, the Femme Fatalex?"

Olly leaned back and crossed her legs. "Yup. We still haven't found Muriel. But our sources indicate that Eggman has had his forces in this legion for quite a while, and managed to gain a foothold with the locals."

Sonic slouched over and rested his elbow on his knee, leaning his chin on his hand, using the other one to tap his opposite knee. The girl had also talked about this place, but didn't ask about the people. "I wander what's here. The locals must be pretty annoyed about, their...secrecy no longer secret."

Olly shook her head. "The locals are Chameleon and Human Ninja, the two species working adjacent to protect an ancient artifact."

"Another one?" Sonic pondered. "My colleague originally discovered the fact that the competition they worked on was just a test to see which two colleagues could find and handle what ever they could. Eggman already knew where the Sphere was. Turns out he's been using it for months."

Sonic's eyes went wide. "Wait, does that mean Eggman is way ahead of us?"  
Olly nodded. "I've trained here before so the locals know me well. I'm a friend of theirs. And because I'm an Agent as well as the decency to keep secrets, I know what the artifact is...and it should stay secret."

This was insane. Although it would make sense. Several pieces of the puzzle were coming into place slowly. If he gathered it correctly, Stupilites would train here. Which means there must be some sort of coveted ring to it. If Eggman took control of the area, it would prevent them from contacting the outside world. Devious, that Robotnik...

"Well I'm willing to keep a secret. Surely, they wouldn't mind would they?"

Olly nodded. "The locals are very...what should I say...Medieval. They still believe the Stupilite Guards still exist, even to this day. I know I spoke with their chief, saying he was very disappointed that he hadn't seen one in his lifetime. In fact, he also said not a Stupilite had stood in their grounds for many millennia."

Sonic sat up and crossed his arms. "So I'm guessin' he won't mind if I knew..." He repeated.

Olly's head sank. "I don't wish to betray the chiefs trust. I can take you to him. But be wary, the Village has Eggman's robots swarming all over it. So we must wait until dark when we get there.

Sonic smiled in agreement. "Fine by me."

The pair made their way over the mountains in just a few minutes, smashing the Kimmibots and their wells along the way, seemingly enjoying themselves and causing major robot carnage. Sonic watched Olly as she made her leaps and bounds of grace, unknowingly mesmorised by her movements, her mastering of the hammer reminded him of Amy, her once again penetrating his subconscious barrier. He ran and smashed some more to try and get her out of his mind...

Several moments later they made it to outskirts of the main village. There were large wooden gates with a S like symbol on the sign above them. It was buried in the middle of everest-esque mountains, slightly lifted to prevent serious flooding. Sonic and Olly hid the woods near the closest open clearing. Sonic observed two regular Eggman badniks patrolling the gates, pacing back and forth in a guards cliché manner. Sonic scratched his head, finally realizing something he should have before. "Wait, these guys are Ninjas. Couldn't they just escape using their Ninja powers or something?"

Olly looked down as she snuck half herself behind a tree. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Eggman has thermo cameras docked out all over the place. If one breaks curfew and tries to escape the village, it'll set off the alarm, alerting the Kimmibots and possibly destroy the whole village."

Sonic rubbed his chin. "Really? Then we just destroy the wells don't we?"

"No." Olly replied. "The Wells are on the inside. What we need to do is find the entrance to Eggman's Secret base."

Sonic winked. "Gotcha. So what are we waiting for?"

Olly peaked her head out from behind the tree and looked left and right. "I know a representative of the Village who was assigned to another agency permanently. I alerted him of his home town being invaded, and he should be coming soon. He will be a big help to us both."

Sonic nodded. "So is that why we're waiting until dark?"

Olly did the same motion once more. "Yes. Trust me, it'll be easier."

Sonic rammed his fist into his palm. "Yes! We get to be super awesome ninjas!"

Olly helmet-palmed. "Uh...yeah..."

The sun was yet to set. Olly had informed them both that the time was around six thirty. The sun sneaked through a tiny space between two mountains, still giving light to the village. The pair sat and waited for this Rep that she spoke of. It gave Sonic time to ask more questions.

"So I see you're pretty good with that hammer." He said, breaking the ice. "Do you mind asking where you got it?"

"Oh my Smish Smasher? Yeah It was made by a client for me specifically. As a thanks."

Sonic nodded, then chuckled as he looked down and fidgeted with his hands. "Yeah, I know a girl with a hammer like that. Not as brutal, but can be quite deadly."

Olly froze. "Really?" She asked, a slight croak in her voice. Sonic laughed. He leaned back against a tree and smiled. "Oh yeah. She may look sweet at first, giving in to her innocent looks. But put a wrong foot down and you're toast."

Olly sat against an adjacent tree and huddled her knees in. "What do you think of her? I mean besides the...you know..." She asked, with a tinge of nervousness in her voice. Sonic shrugged. "She's okay I guess. A good friend at best. Persistent I admit, I gotta give her that."

Olly began tapping the ground with her finger and looked away from him. "Persistence is just another word for determination."

Sonic laughed. "I guess you can call it that way. What about you? Know anyone as quick as me?" He said with a smirk. Olly felt taken aback. "Well...Uh...I..."

Sonic laughed again. "It's okay. You're a secret agent. I don't want to compromise your mission or your identity..."

Olly gave a small sigh of relief. She was a bit agitated to the point where she wanted to change subjects.

"So...uh...Sonic...you ever...you know, have these weird visions?"

Sonic blinked. "Weird visions?"

Olly looked down. "Never mind. It'll be a dead question anyway."

Sonic shrugged. But couldn't shake the words of him. He initially thought nothing of it, but it lingered elsewhere, knowing she might know more than she's been telling. Still, if she had her secrets, it was up to her if she wanted to confide them in others, not being the type of guy or hedgehog to force people to open up. He'd rather them do it themselves when they're ready.

"So is there anything else I should know? Based on the fact that is Eggman we're dealing with, if you're got any 'schematics', maps or whatnot, it might help."

Olly paused for a moment, before relaying her answer. "Well not entirely. We tend to go by ear or do general perimeter scans. Even then we do constant research on the areas we're about to intrude."

Made sense to Sonic, in a way. "Knowing the enemy huh?"

"If you put it that way then yeah."

They both stopped as they heard a rustling in the bushes. They kept down to lend their ears as Sonic rested his index finger on his lips. A sudden jump and shuffle of leaves burst out caused Sonic and Olly to stand guard as a the air blurred into a purple chameleon. Sonic smiled as he stood properly.

"Espio my man!" Sonic said, as Espio turned from a graceful landing, to serious ninja position.

"Sonic, I did not expect to see you here." He muttered in his low monotones. Sonic faced Olly.

"So this is your representative huh? Glad it's someone I know who can kick butt."

Olly nodded. "Alright. Let's plan this out then. Espio, got the blueprints?"

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "Blueprints? I thought you said you don't usually have maps?"

"I have photographic memory Sonic." Espio explained. "I have gone into Eggman's base briefly. But I'm afraid the work that needs to be initiated is more of a two person job."

Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Well, three makes it even better!"

Espio did a silent grumble. "It's more of a Ninjas job Sonic..."

Sonic frowned. "But I can play Ninja too!"

Espio and Olly gave each other looks, knowing Sonic was acting like a child. "We know you're good at smashing things, giving Eggman a hard time. But all we want to do is get the citizens of the village out safely. We can't risk him finding out you're here or he'll go mental."

Sonic became puppy-eyed. "Please! I'll be quiet I swear!" He said, practically begging.

Olly's hands flew to her hips. "Oh alright. Just never seen someone so desperate to do some serious espionage."

The three sat around in a circle with their legs crossed, Espio sitting up straight with his hands resting on his knees, Olly with her own in front and Sonic leaned back.

"The entrance is west of the Village. Like the Gates, there are two standard robots. I can take them out with ease with my abilities. As as soon as they're gone, I want the two of you to follow me in. There's an air shaft down the first corridor. We hop into it and go as far right as you can."

"What are we aiming for first? Security?" Sonic asked. Espio nodded. "I can take you to the Surveillance Room. It's guarded by some red ball robot and a yellow box robot."

Sonic could take a guess at those descriptions. "That would be Orbot and Cubot..." He included.

"Right..." Said Espio, not really caring. "We take them out, and have a better look around the complex."

After a few more minutes, they finished discussing their plan to infiltrate the base. The sun had gone down completely, as Olly grabbed a black bag from the bushes. She unzipped it and pulled out two pairs of night vision goggles and gave one to Sonic and one to Espio, then hitched the bag on to her shoulders. Both strapped them on as the sun had finally disappeared. "I'm glad I can see this time." Said Sonic as they left.

One could see the lights glowing from the Village, but they weren't bright enough to cover the outskirts. Dull lights portrayed the entrance to the base, encased with mosquitoes and a botched light that kept flashing on and off repeatedly. The two robots that Espio had been talking about paced back and forth in stereotypical guard fashion. Having a glimpse of the entrance, it was cylindrical with black and yellow diagonal stripes, in which it dug into the side of the mountain. The door was obviously automatic. Espio did his thing, melding into the environment and with simple kicks destroyed both the robots, then took out the camera on top with a single shuriken. He faded back into vision as Espio and Sonic placed their goggles on their head and headed inside...

Espio lead the group, leading them down the long corridor, avoiding patrolling robots and surveillance cameras along the way. It was made entirely in sterile technics and metal. No doubt it was Eggmans base. Espio stopped in his tracks and looked up. "There!" He motioned. "I need a hand." He said. Sonic looked confused. "How'd you get up before?" He asked. "There was a robot here last time. I faded as it stood there...actually it'd fallen asleep."

"How do robots fall asleep?" Olly and Sonic wondered at the same time. Either way, Sonic stood under he vent while Espio stood on his shoulders and pushed the vent grill out of the way. Espio was the first to jump in while Sonic looked at Olly. "Ladies first." He said with gentleman's charm. Olly simply huffed. "Why thank you Sonic..." She said sarcastically. She got on his shoulders as Espio grabbed her hand, then Olly grabbed Sonic's and pulled him in. Sonic placed the grill back into place, and started following Espio and Olly down the vent. Sonic found himself in an awkward position and tried to look away from what he found himself staring at but unconsciously couldn't help but look forward. He blushed. Olly looked behind her to see where Sonic was, him crawling with his head looking away. "What's the matter?" She asked. "Uh...nothing..." He motioned. She caught wind of his troubles and stopped. "YOU PERVERT!" She yelled.

 **WHACK!**  Went Sonic's face as he copped a boot full of pain. "Shh you fools! You want to raise the alarm?" Scolded Espio. Sonic rubbed his face as Olly snuffed. "He was looking at my butt!" She complained. Espio shook his head. "We're heading up to small clearing in a minute, so you can change places when we're there if it makes you so uncomfortable."

Espio was right, there was a larger vent area nearby. It was large enough for them to stand in, but rectangle hole in front of them as more vents went in up, down, left, right and forward. Sonic noticed a shaft grill and could see out of it. He leaned down to try and see through it.

"It looks like some sort of prisoners area." He noticed. Olly came by and shoved Sonic out of the way. She could see someone sitting in out of the cells, which had electric blue bars surrounding it. Inside was a small, seemingly elder light pink hedgehog, wearing a white woolen sweater over a green dress, glasses and her quills were up in a bun held with pins. She sat down on a bed, the look on her face was downtrodden. "That's her! I've found her!" She said. "Found who?" Asked Sonic. She pushed Sonic away as she grabbed her hammer, ready to smash the grill. "Wait!" Said Espio, scared. Sonic summed up what courage he had and put himself in her way. "Move! I have to do this!" She sad. Sonic raised his arms and shook his head. "I know you want to save her Olly, but we can't. Not yet." He said. Espio agreed. "Not now anyway. Not until we shut down the entire security network. Then we can save her."

Olly already had her hammer above her head, readying the momentum to smash. Sonic gave her sympathetic looks but deep down he was frightened. She seemed to care so much about this lady. Then it hit him. "That's Muriel isn't it?" He asked. Slowly but surely, Olly weaned down her hammer and withdrew it away. "Yes..." She said softly. Sonic and Espio sighed with relief simultaneously. Sonic gave comfort in the form of putting his hand on her shoulder. "She'll be fine."

He said, giving a smile. Olly looked away and shoved Sonic's hand off her. Sonic gave a surprised look. "Let's just keep going then. I'll follow."

They jumped over the hole and started crawling into the next vent. Espio, then Sonic then Olly crawling alongside. Espio halted and sniffed the air. "Does anyone smell that?" He asked. Both Sonic and Olly did the same thing. "Yeah...I can..." Replied Olly. The scent was familiar to Sonic somehow. He continued sniffing it. It became rather potent, almost causing Sonic and Espio to gag. Sonic grabbed a handkerchief from his quills and placed it on his mouth. "It's sulfur." Announced Olly. "We have to act fast."

Espio had covered his mouth, causing the crawling to become awkwardly slow. Even for Sonic. Olly ranted. "Come on you two! Pick up the pace!"

Eventually they found the shaft they were looking for. They looked downwards to see Orbot and Cubot sitting down, leaning back on office chairs, glancing at the screens before them.

"You know, this doesn't seem so bad after all." Said Orbot.

"I agree. This is easy!" Said Cubot, who appeared to reading a comic book instead.

"So what do you think of the others?" Orbot asked.

Cubot put his comic book down and stared into space. "They seem nice. I dunno about Sonic's doppelganger though."

"You mean Metal Sonic." Corrected Orbot. Cubot scratched his head. "Yeah that one. He's been keeping an closer eye on the prisoner lately."

"I wonder why..." Said Orbot.

Sonic chuckled. "They're nothin." Espio carefully removed the grill without making a sound and shed visibility. He dropped out of the vent silently and glanced at the red and yellow robots.

"Do you feel something just now?" Pondered Orbot. Cubot had gone back to his comic.

"No..." He replied, uninterested. Orbot shrugged it off and leaned back into his chair.

Espio crept up the Cubot extra slowly and grabbed his mouth. He took out a screw driver and started tinkering with the junk in his back. Cubot resisted, eventually pulling Espio's hand away and gasping.

"Whats wrong now?" Orbot whinged.

"Like OH MY GOD Something just touched me!" Roared Cubot in a teenage girls accent. "Not again..." Orbot face-palmed. Cubot started twirling his chair around, hoping to shake what was touching him off, Espio walked back to the wall, keeping his eyes on the pair.

"Like, come on! I'm for real girlfriend!" Said Cubot. "Do you want me to whack you again?" Orbot suggested. Cubot rested his hands on his...box? "Like oh my god, why don't you believe me?"

Orbot sighed. "It's not that I don't believe you or anything..."

"LET'S GO SHOPPING!" Cubot yelled spontaneously flailing his arms about.

Espio was patient and distant, waiting for the right time to strike. Orbot floated over to his demented co-worker and tried to to fix his voice up. Again. "Dear me...it appears you were telling the truth. Or you have very delicate wires." "You know we should, like, by Eggman more flattering clothes don't cha think?" Cubot suggested. "Maybe later, right now we have to get you fixed up."

Orbot replied. Espio creeped over while they weren't watching the screens. He looked at the board of buttons before him and started typing as discreet as he could. He had took quick glimpses at many of the screens. One was at the jail cell area where Muriel was, but she was no longer there. Another screen portrayed construction of the Kimmibots. A smaller screen up the top had turned to static, Espio gathering that was the entrance camera he had destroyed earlier, the screen so tiny and so high for them to not care about. He ignored their rants and continued typing. He discovered where Eggman was situated, in a large lab like room, him sitting on a anti-gravitational chair, speaking with a curvaceous, charcoal coloured, and large breasted woman., covered with amber glowing runes and cuts, with spiked shoulder pads and a head made of fire. Her demonic wings fluttering about, keeping her floating above the floor. Sharp claws protruded out of the ends of her fingers and toes. Checking back to the other two, Orbot was busy using tools to fix Cubot up, giving Espio more time to check out a map of the complex. Over the many hallways he could see two heat signatures in what must have been where Eggman and the demonic lady were stationed, noting the glow from her was a lot larger than his. He quickly went back to shaft and gave signs to Olly. She nodded from within and pulled her bag off her shoulders and rummaged through it. She pulled out a USB and chucked it to Espio, who then ran back to the surveillance board and shoved the USB into a port. His trickling fingers typing rapidly over the buttons, from what Sonic saw, created loops of empty hallways and a repeat of Eggman speaking with the woman.

"There that should do it." Said Orbot, finally fixing up Cubot, who rubbed his head.

"I still think Eggman needs a better outfit...his current one is getting rather old." He said, his accent back to normal. Orbot chuckled. "Well said my friend." He said, floating back to his own chair. Espio, still invisible, finished up and withdrew the USB before the robot returned. Sonic gave his hand to Espio to help him get back into the Vent. Sonic then carefully put the grill back on, and decided to head back to the larger vent shaft area.

As soon as they got there Olly went to have a look at the shaft looking towards the Cells, clasping her hands on the bars. "No! She's gone!" She gasped. Espio shook his head. "I was going to mention that to you..." He said. Olly stomped her foot. "I knew we should have gotten her out. Espio, did you see her on any of the other cameras?"

"No." He replied calmly. "They might have taken her to Eggman, but she didn't appear on the heat signature map."

"Heat signature?" Sonic pondered. "Wouldn't it have a good view of us in these vents?"

"Luckily for us Eggman forgot to mend it. I couldn't find you guys anywhere."

Sonic smiled. "Great!"

Olly sat down, with her head fallen. Sonic noticed and leaned over. "Come on Olly, she might be still around if we're lucky. I never said we weren't going to save her did I?"

Olly lifted her head up slightly. "...I just fear failing that's all."

Sonic gave a smile and gave her his hand. "We all fail sometimes. It's what we learn from our mistakes that makes us better people."

Olly hesitated for a moment, then placed her hand in Sonic's, him helping her back to her feet.

"So what do you suggest we do now then?" Espio asked Olly. Olly paused to think. "Well, we can stop the production of the Kimmibots to free the town from oppression. Then we go straight to the source."

Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Sounds good to me." Espio nodded. "The production plant is down from here. Are we prepared to give a jump?"

Olly shifted her weight to one side, resting her hand on her hip. "I have suction cups in my bag. I only have two pairs though."

"It's okay, I can cling on the side, just not for too long." Said Espio.

Sonic and Olly put the suction cups on their hands and knees, then followed Espio down the descending vent. Espio went faster than usual, worried he'd might fall in the mean time. Meanwhile Sonic and Olly took their time going down. Sonic knew Olly had the rush to find Muriel, wanting to reassure her once more. But he said nothing as they kept going downwards.

It gave him time to think. Gathering by her behavior she could either be close to her or even zealous in the nature of her saving work. Muriel appeared old also, she might be concerned because of her fragile stature. He would be too. But...she was so worked up about it. He'd have to keep an eye on her if she continued to be this way. No...it was nothing. She was a grown woman. He saw how she handled herself. This was one incident.

They eventually got down to the bottom, looking through the bars of the grill, seeing lines and lines full of constructing and constructed kimmibots. "Wow...so many..." Said Sonic. "Any chance of an off-switch Espio?" Asked Olly. "Yes. There's a room nearby overlooking the factory. We disable the panel inside, set off a self-destruct sequence and head out as quickly as we can."

Olly froze. "What about..."

Sonic wasted no time. "Espio I have a better idea..." He motioned. "What is it Sonic?" He asked.

Sonic smirked. "If you can sneak into the panel room like you did with the surveillance room and do you thing, do you reckon Olly and I have enough time to do some rescuing?"

Espio wondered about it for a moment. "Maybe. You have to hurry though. Follow my lead through here, and I can point you both in the right direction."

Sonic nodded. Olly removed the grill from the shaft as they popped out of the vent one by one.

They landed on a platform overseeing the massive factory. Sonic wiped his forehead. "Phew! Its getting hot in here."

"Not enough to get my clothes off." Said Olly sarcastically. They quickly took off the suction cups as Olly put them back in her bag. The lines of Kimmibots were numerous and heading in all sorts of directions. Espio pointed to their right. A narrow ledge was just wide enough for them to get across to the panel room. They ran over to it and started shuffling across, their backs to the wall as their legs skimmed across slowly. "Woah!" Cried Olly as she accidentally slipped over. "Olly!" Yelled Sonic as he quickly grabbed her hand, saving her from falling down to the great below. He gently pulled her up to the ledge as she sighed with relief. "Thanks Sonic." She said with gratefulness. "No worries. Just be a little more careful." He said with a wink.

They had made it to the other side platform. There was no one inside the panel room gathering what they could see through the window. They went through an automatic door leading to it. Espio immediately went to the panel itself and began to analyze it. "Alright. This might take me a while. A Ninja hacks to learn, but one know must learn to hack." He said. "Use that door and head straight down. Eggman's chamber should be just down the corridor."

Sonic nodded  
. "Gotcha. Come on Olly lets go."  
"Right." She responded, following Sonic through the second set of doors while Espio did his thing.

The corridor wasn't too long, but the ending of it held giant platinum doors. Sonic leaned his ear on it to see if he could hear anything.

"Allow me..." Said Olly. Sonic watched as Olly brought her bag out. She pulled out a a device that had three cords extending out of it. It was shaped like a box, with one cord on one side with a small suction like apparatus at the end, while the other side had two cords with ear buds. Olly placed one cord on one of the platinum doors. She gave an earbud to Sonic and put one in her ear.

There was a rant on the other side. Sonic could make out one the gruff male voice as Eggman, but couldn't decipher the deep womanly voice that he was arguing with.

"Look, I don't know where it went. I had Scratch and Grounder move it so if we found a chaos Emerald could put one in there!" Yelled Eggman. Great. Now he was looking for the Emeralds again. One emerald was just as bad as having two or all seven. There was something else he had to save.

"Where is this Scratch and Grounder? Maybe I can talk to them myself." Said the deep, echoed and multi-pitched voice.  
"They're probably snooping as usual for all I care! Those idiotic dingbots..." Eggman roared.  
"Well if you do, you'll know it won't work properly unless I get the rest of those Bleeding Hearts."

They heard a thumping. "I know that! We're still trying to find that blasted box." Said Eggman.

"I've given you the Amberite...I've given you the locations...you just need to expand your search a little wider." The voice mentioned.

Eggman grumbled. His associate was being extremely unhelpful.

"I'm setting up bases at those other Zones you suggested. I'm pretty sure they'll pop up sooner or later." He told them.

Suddenly it became silent. Sonic turned to Olly.  
"What do you thinks going on?" He whispered.

Olly shrugged.  
"I don't know. They must be thinking..." She replied.

"I think we have some little rats outside our door." Said the lady.

**SCHING!**

The Platinum doors suddenly opened before Sonic and Olly. Sonic saw a familiar face as his face widened with surprise.

"You!" He said, pointing

"Sonic? How'd you get in here?" Eggman asked, almost like he was stunned.

Olly's hands flung to her hips.  
"So Eggman, I see you're dealing with the devil?" She noted.

The lady laughed.  
"No honey, the contract was signed a long time ago..." She sneered, giving off a demonic laugh that almost frightened the pair to the core. She recognized Sonic straight away and blew him a kiss and a wink. It just made him feel sick.

"This time you've gone too far Eggman!" Sonic yelled.

"Do ho ho! I've heard that before..." Eggman laughed. His tasks did escalate from time to time. But this...this...

"Where is she?" Olly demanded, bringing out her Smish Smasher.

The demonic lady looked at her.  
"Where is who sweetie?"

Olly became so enraged, that she wanted to pour water on that fiery head of hers. Inflict pure agony.

"Abbadonia, deal with them quickly!" Eggman ordered.  
"Of course darls." Abbadonia complied.

Sonic froze.  
"Wait, Abbadonia?"

Abbadonia gave a smirk as Eggman pressed a button on his floating chair and went up a pipe and vanished. Sonic stood back into a fighting position.  
"So you're Abbadonia?" Sonic asked again.

"Indeed I am...you know what they say about red heads...so much fire in them!" She joked, her laugh so discouraging.

"Well I think it's time we put that fire out!" Roared Olly. She jumped into the air with her hammer, intending to smash Abbadonia with it. Instead a circle of darkness appeared under her as she descended down into it, the circular hole closing as Olly hit the floor.

"Where did she go?" Said Olly, panting with rage. Sonic kept an eye out. He felt a warm breeze through his quills. Noticing this, he turned around. Abbadonia had reappeared and attempted to swipe Sonic with a massive claw that had formed on her left hand. Luckily Sonic had jumped out of the way before she could hit him.

Abbadonia cackled.  
"Your wretched kind will not stop me this time!" She bellowed. Raising her hand up, multiple circular holes were summoned on the ground. Monsters lept out of them and roared at Sonic and Olly. Sonic had recognized them from his dreams.

"Let them rise, Mephbones! The skeletal warriors who wield twin swords! Crawlfangs, the three headed dogs with a taste for flesh! Stumpwings!, the leg less winged demons craving to tear you apart limb from limb! Attack!" Abbadonia commanded. The demons flung themselves into the heat of battle. The whole swarm of these creatures bombarded the pair. Olly whacked each one that came her way, knocking the heads off the Mephbones. Sonic speared his foot cracking the skulls of the Stumpwings. All the while Abbadonia gloated and cackled. Olly continued whacking down more Mephbones, then eventually came to a Crawlfang. Take a leap of faith, she landed behind it and smashed her hammer into it's back, causing it to yelp. Sonic encountered two Mephbones. He dodged the slashes, then did a run up and kneed one of them in the chest, causing it crack apart and snap it in two. Using the momentum, Sonic used a spin-dash to smash the skull of the next one.

Olly finished off five Stumpwings in sequence. Smash after squish after smoosh. After their struggle, piles of dead demons spread across the floor. They panted as Abbadonia floated there and clapped.

"Well done my sweeties..." She congratulated. "I'd love to stay and chat but I have work to do. Toodle-oo~"

The piles of demons faded away in ashes and blew into the holes that Abbadonia had summoned. The Demon Lady sunk down into the abyss as it closed up. Olly ran over to slam her, but like before, all she hit was ground. Sonic walked up beside her.  
"It's over..." He said, patting her back. She spun around, getting into position to whack Sonic. He couldn't see her face but judging from her body language she was ready to keep going. "Olly..." He tried to assure. Soon she withdrew the Smish Smasher and calmed down.  
"I'm sorry Sonic...but she makes me feel...really angry. Like there's a storm raging in my very veins." She muttered. Her head was down as Sonic attempted to comfort her by his hand on her shoulder again.

"There's always another time. I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time we see her." He said smiling.

Olly was reluctant.  
"It wasn't the first time either." She mumbled.

"Huh?" Sonic wondered...with confusion.  
Olly shook her head. "It's nothing. We have someone to save." She said, her head perking back up.  
Sonic agreed. "Agreed. Let's Be Cool, Be Wild and Be Groovy!"

Olly face palmed. "Anyway, let's go back to the Jail Cell. Since Espio fixed the up the camera system we should find it easier without having to crawl around."

Sonic nodded. "Eggman already know's we're here." He said, pushing his palm with his fist. "Which we have an obligation to smash some robots."

They headed out the platinum doors. Olly picked up her stuff and put away what she had out. Then they were greeted with a plethora of robots heading in their direction. Sonic snorted. "Hey Olly, ready to cause more chaos?" He asked, having cheek in his voice.  
Olly put her bag on her back and brought out Smish Smasher.  
"I'm always ready Sonic." She said, eager.

Sonic went into a Spindash and smashed through the jolly orange robots like bowling pins. Olly happily swung her hammer around, full of beautiful destruction that Eggman would be jealous of. They worked their way around the complex for a while, blowing things up as they went. Sonic sped to a halt when he'd found the door to the cells.  
"Olly over here!" He yelled. She came around and peaked her head through the window.

"There she is!" She announced with glee. "Stand back Sonic!"

She backed up with the hammer and ran and swung it with full force.

**SMASH!**

The two would have to been a million pieces at this point. Olly ran in then stood before the Main Cell.

"G-Muriel!" Said Olly, stuttering uncharacteristically.

"We've found you!"

Sonic walked over to the old woman. She appeared frail with a walking stick.  
"Have you come to save me?" She asked in croaky voice.  
Olly nodded. "We've been looking all over for you! Are you okay?"

"Yes...I think so" Replied Muriel, who then looked at Sonic. "Ah Sonic! It's so good to finally meet you!"

Sonic smiled. "Good to meet you too." He said back. "Are you THE Muriel? The one who gave a book to Tails?"

Muriel bowed her head. "Yes. I wrote that book many years ago back in my expedition days as a young explorer. Just as you were."

Olly walked around to find out how to shut off the electromechanical bars. She found a board on the wall with a key still in the slot. She slowly twisted it, hearing jerks and groans at the same time. She looked behind to see the bars had gone.  
"Alright let's get you out of here." She said.

**WOOP WOOP WOOP**

**SELF DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE, INITIATED.**

"Espio..." Sonic muttered. He picked Muriel up and carried her out. The complex started to shake violently as Sonic and Olly headed back to Espio. Turns out he was waiting outside of Panel room, waiting.  
"Come on! Follow me!" Espio commanded. He lead in front, with Sonic and Olly in tow.

They dodged falling debris and jumped around, Sonic holding Muriel tight. They sped through various obstacles. Olly used her hammer to clear paths as they hit dead ends. Unfortunately the roof caved in and stranded the trio. "Oh no!" Cried Muriel. Olly tried smashing through, but more poured down.  
"Hang on a tic..." She said. She bowed down and touched a button on her helmet.

"Agent Bazooka I'm requesting an immediate evac!" She said.

"Copy that Agent Mjöllnir, scanning your signal."

"Alright, just hang on a tic guys." Said Olly. "Huddle together."

The four got closer to one another, with Espio and Olly placing their hands over Sonic and each other, shielding Muriel from the debris. Suddenly a blast came out of nowhere, and from the settling dust was a tall woman with what was two long pony tails wrapped in latex. She herself was curvacious with high heeled boots, black leather pants and a full black shirt with gloves. Her helmet was the same as Olly's design, except for the pony tails peaking out of it. Sonic knew why she was called Agent Bazooka...she held a great big silver one on her shoulder. "Come!"

Bazooka pulled the others to her as they ran to follow her towards the front of the complex. Soon there was a glimpse of night sky as a ladder fell down from a helicopter. Bazooka stood by it as Espio started climbing it rapidly. Followed by Olly, then Bazooka herself. Sonic clung onto a ladder rail with one hand as he held Muriel in his other arm. As soon as the others got inside the Helicopter soon went upwards as they barely escaped the explosion, Sonic holding Muriel in tight. They watched as the mountainside collapsed before them, followed by more explosions. Sonic sighed with relief...

After they that fiasco, the Helicopter settled down on the outskirts of the village. It turned out that it was the combined efforts of the entire Femme Fatalax, which consisted Olly, Bazooka, and the woman who had been flying the helicopter, the one Knuckles called ''Agent Hooves'' was actually called "Agent Drainer." due to her ability to absorb power. Sonic didn't go beyond that, but got her general description of someone similar to Olly's stature, only less curvy and..flatter than the other two. Which Sonic also did not speak of. The robots were no longer there to torment the villagers.

Espio went to house of the Village Chief and explained what had happened. He also spoke Sonic and the Femme Fatalex, thanking them for their efforts to save the town. The Chief was tall and was clad in purple ninja gear. He sat down on a cushion, legs cross and had a stern, worn face and was also balding with grey hair. He took a sip from his tea cup and rested it back on a plate. Espio sat next to him. As was tradition with the Ninjas culture, one must take their shoes off before entering a house, and speak to each other sitting down, as equals and to show some respect to one another. Sonic and Olly were in there as well.

"I'd like to thank you all for doing so much for our village." Said the Chief. "We would be honored if you would like to join us all in celebrations tonight."

"I would love to, but I have things to do." Said Sonic, standing up. Olly pulled his leg.

"Come on Sonic there's gonna be food!" She pleaded. "There's gonna be Chilli Dogs!"

Sonic froze. "Chili Dogs? Twice in one day" He parroted. "Awesome."

The night went on as they ate and danced under the stars. Bazooka and Drainer had gotten rid of the cameras and any other bugs that Eggman had planted throughout the village. Sonic talked to the Villagers, both human and Chameleon a like. He learned a bit about their history, how the humans had invaded the Chameleons territory and eventually the humans taught them how to fight. It was eventually they became crucial as the melding reptiles could gather information from afar., as well as learning the name of the clan was Furcifer. It inducted either kind into it's fold and even taught strangers self-defense. It indeed fascinated Sonic.

"So, was the Clan in good spirits with the House of Rosoideae by any chance?" He asked the Chief.

"Of course they were. Our ancestors trained Stupilite Warriors and spies. Up until the accident..."

Accident? Sonic thought. "May I ask what happened?" Sonic asked.

"The Knuckles Clan had delved into a Civil War with the Nocturnus. It whipped up something strange in the air. The Legends have it the event that was written in the scrolls as the Ripple of Exchange." He explained. "There were reports of fire that rained down from the heavens. The Prophetess of Rosoideae foresaw the release of eight magical artifacts that spewed out of the Earth, causing panic across the world and strange events."

"What happened after that?" Sonic wondered.  
"No one heard from the House of Rosoideae after that. All of them simply vanished. For four thousand years these have been kept on those scrolls until the day the Ripple would return." The Chief continued.

Sonic crossed his arms. "Interesting. So does that have anything to do with why Eggman was keeping you all prisoner?" He inquired.

The chiefs eyes went back and forth.

"Follow me."

The Chief lead Sonic away from the party and back to his hut. He walked to a wall with a wall scroll, moving it out of the way revealing a keypad. Sonic was amazed.  
"Espio gave us this technology. Its much more efficient than our previous method."

"What was that?" Sonic asked.

The Chief stopped as his head slunk. "I'd rather not say. But it did involve a tooth pick and alchohol."

What? After a strange thought or two, the floor opened up, revealing a flight of steps. The Chief lead Sonic down to an underground area, the walls made of an extra hard steel. In the middle was a wooden table, displaying a massive sword in a glass case. Sonic walked up to it, for some reason, in the back of his mind, was that image of it. But he didn't know why. It looked strange, with fangs and bones, twisted and contorted with the base and handle concealing a crimson jewel in a one eye socket demon skull. His mind flashed back to his dream. It was the same blade that...Abbadonia gave him, which now connected the two together, but didn't make the whole situation hell of a lot easier.  
"We received this blade a long time ago. We believe Eggman was trying to find it. Which is why I am giving it to the Femme Fatalex for safe keeping."

Another artifact?

"Here's hoping it stays that way." Said Sonic. "Yes. It's very important."

They came back up, as the party kept going on with more dancing. Sonic decided to join the local villagers and staged them with his break dancing skills. He could have gone all night, for one maiden called out to him... "Mr. Sonic?"

Sonic faced his left. It was Muriel.  
"Oh hey there." Sonic said, waving. The Chief, who was standing from afar, became stern and serious. "How are you feeling?" Sonic asked.

"Still a bit shaken but I will be okay." She said with a grin. "I wanted to gave my thanks once more. I knew giving my book to Amy's friend Tails was a good idea."

Sonic blinked. "You know Amy?"

Muriel nodded. "Of course...she's my granddaughter. She was the one who suggested I give it to Tails in the first place."

Woah what? It was not that his suspicions were right about Muriel being related to Amy somehow that shocked him but the revelation that Amy told her own grandmother to give such a book to Tails raises even more questions to be desired.  
"She told me all about you Sonic..."

Sonic chuckled nervously.  
"Uh...I sure she has..."

* * *

**_FLASH.._.**

Sonic shook his head. He stood in the middle of an empty intersection, with only the wind blowing giving any indication of movement. Sonic looked up at the sky scrapers that circled the the blue sky above. He wandered around for a while, trying to pin-point where he was. He decided to do a speed run across town. But where ever he went, it was just the same. Endless roads that lead to nowhere and everywhere across this nameless barren city. He cried out a few times to see if anyone was around, but had no avail. Turning into a spin-dash, he rolled up the side of the nearest tower and sped to the top. He squinted as he searched over the horizon. Nothing but mimicked buildings that repeated themselves like a pattern. The sun was in permanent sunset, giving off a twilight feel. He looked towards it, not knowing what to expect.

"You found her." Said a voice. Sonic turned around. "Amy?"

Amy slowly walked towards Sonic. Her face faltered as her eyelids were at half-mask. She stood incredibly still like a statue, confusing Sonic.  
"What's going on?" He asked.

"What's your involvement in all of this?"

Amy looked away. Suddenly blood started dripping from the bottom of her dress. He looked down at the pool in surprise. Looking back into her eyes, they were lifeless. Sonic immediately ran to her aid as she fell over, him catching her.  
"Amy are you alright?" Sonic asked with deep concern. Tears started running down her face as a patch of blood appeared on her stomach. She was fatally wounded. "W-what happened?" Sonic stuttered, not knowing what to do. She lifted her hand up weakly and rested her hand on his face.  
"You need to wake up Sonic...please..."

**_FLASH..._ **

Sonic rubbed his eyes. He was now in a darkened room by himself, only the moonlight coming from the window gave him somewhat subpar vision. He had a blanket over drawn over him, and he realized he was asleep on a futon. Sitting up, Sonic tried to make sense of himself. These dreams...visions...were getting increasingly graphic and cryptic, him failing to understand how Amy, who might be over the top, but was a genuinely good person. But what it mean? Was there some Freudian context to it? Was his subconsciousness trying to tell him something.

Sonic heard footsteps outside his room. He got up and slid his door open.

"About time you woke up." Whispered Olly as she grabbed Sonic, much to his surprise.

"We need to talk."

They sat up on top of the roof and stared at the moon.  
"I need to tell someone this." Said Olly.

Sonic looked at Olly with care. "What's the matter?"  
Olly fumbled, as if unorganized with herself. "I have to take Muriel back home. You have to come with me. Now."

Sonic looked dumbfounded. Olly got up and paced back and forth, muttering to herself.

"I...never mind. I've organized Bazooka to get the Helicopter. You're going back through the portal. Tonight. With Muriel."

Sonic shot up. "No, I can run back to the portal myself. I'll just carry Muriel back."

Olly held her hand close to her chest. "You sure?"

Sonic feigned a smile. "Trust me...I'll be faster."

Olly looked down. "Alright. I have to go anyway."

Sonic chuckled. "You don't need me here anymore."

Olly nodded. "Of...course. Muriel is still up, she should be near one of the shrines."

Sonic held out his hand. "Then this is goodbye...for now..." He said.

Olly shook his hand without hesitation. "Yeah. No doubt we'll see each other again."

The two bid their farewells and headed in the opposite directions. Sonic watched as Olly jumped from roof to roof towards the Village's walls, leap off, then seeing a glimpse of the helicopter. He waved to the Femme Fatalex as their image faded off into the darkness. When they were gone completely, Sonic jumped off the roof and ran around to find Muriel.

Like Olly had said, She was busy praying at one of the shrines, kneeling down with her hands on the bench. Sonic tapped her shoulder.  
"Muriel?"

Muriel's head lifted up. "It's time to go isn't it."  
"Yes." Sonic replied. She got up and turned in his direction.  
"Very well. If we must."

Sonic sweeped her off her feet and started running back to the Portal.

"Here we are."

Sonic looked up. He stood behind Muriel as she opened a door. Looking around, he knew where he was. Central City. Muriel turned on a light inside.  
"Why don't you come around some time? I'd love to hear what you discovered." She said sweetly.  
Sonic forced a smile. "Uh..sure..."

"It's been so long since I have been to those ruins. It'll be good to see them again." She said as she reminisced.

"Right." Said Sonic. "Well, you better head off to bed then. Be seeing ya!" He said, waving good bye before fleeing off.

* * *

Sonic running alone at night gave him more thinking room. He'd experienced so much craziness in one day. Then he remembered about Tails and Knuckles and wondered what happened to them. Sonic couldn't just stand around and do nothing about. He had to find his friends, but somewhere inside him said that they could handle it. Neither were weaklings, and could find their way back if they wanted to. Just where they went was a total mystery and was most likely because of the cock up with the Portal. He forget that they had aged, therefore would have become rather dodgy over time. But...Amy kept crawling back in. The annoying poke of her image annoyed Sonic. Everything seemed to head straight back to her. He could go back to Muriel the next day and ask her, or go back to find Tails and Knuckles. Because he was their friend and because it was necessary as the Sonic the Hedgehog, he quickly made the decision to search. In fact, he could do it now if he wanted. Leaving in a rush, Sonic headed back to the ruins, with Amy still on his mind.

Every thought was in a constant loop. Save Tails, Save Knuckles, Speak to Muriel, Find Amy...rinse and repeat. One of the problems he was having is that she wasn't even around as such to be forged of such blame. And that dream...the blood...was that...the Prophetess talking?

"I congratulate you on finding her." Said Shizaru. Sonic skidded to a halt as he saw her standing there in her usual attire.

"So I'm guessing by her, you mean Muriel." He corrected.

"Do you remember how you got out of Sakura?" She asked in her soft voice.

"Sure I do." Sonic answered. "We came through the portal."

Shizaru stood there, deathly still.  
"Do you remember running back here?" She asked.

"I...". Sonic wondered back. How did he get back anyway? His face scowled. "You can't..."

Said Mizaru, who suddenly warped behind Sonic. She was wearing her green garb as she always did.  
"You have found her. Yet your task is not finished." Muttered Kikazaru who came from Sonic's right, wearing her blue garb.

"What do you mean not finished?" Sonic demanded. He felt a tap on his left shoulder. It was Iwazaru in her yellow garb, holding a golden blade in the palms of her hands. "W-what's this for? I said I was done with the swords. If this has to do with King Arthur I don't have that power in this world. That was just one of those weird, 'Reep you in for some reason' storybooks." He babbled.

Shizaru's eyes pierced through Sonic's own.

"No. You must take the blade and kill Muriel with it." She said, coldy.

* * *

 


	4. Righteous Ways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic contemplates the horrible task given to him, followed by events involving tarot cards, dreams and free fall fights.

**Chapter 4 – Righteous Ways**

Sonic was stumped. He'd only just saved Muriel a few hours ago and now he had to kill her? What kind sick, twisted game was this? Sonic's puzzlement became anger mixed with sorrow. He couldn't comprehend the Prophetess request to murder an innocent old lady. Especially if they were related to one of his friends. Even if she wasn't, he would never do such a thing. Not that he wouldn't...he couldn't. There was no chance in Lava Reef that Sonic the Hedgehog could go to such lengths for some petty excuses. It was an extreme of an extreme. And these measures would not be taken lightly.

"What was the point of me rescuing her when she has to die? Seriously, where's the logic?" Sonic roared. He backed off from Iwazaru who still held the blade in her hands. The expression on their faces failed to change. Just the same, dull looks that all of them shared. As if they were in a trance.

"If we told you everything you would not have done it. Now she is safe. Everyone else...is not." Muttered Shizaru.  
"In order to end it, you must prevent the same event from happening again." Spoke Mizaru.  
"...the future is red." Said Iwazaru. Sonic walked backwards, trying to get a good distance between them.

"Look there has to be some other way besides slaughter!" He argued.

He felt the glare coming from Shizaru's cold eyes.  
"It is the only way. Iwazaru...show him..."

Sonic watched as the yellow clad Hedgehog waltzed her way towards him with the golden blade in the palms of her hands. He stood back, only to find himself up against an invisible wall. Unconsciously he scrapped the sides with his fingers, trying to find a way out. Iwazaru got closer, as he was forced to jump over to the other side.  
"If you want to know the truth let her do her job."

Sonic shook his head. "No...I can't. I refuse to believe it. Even with reason I can't allow it to happen!"

He tried running in another direction, but only ran into more walls. Each way he went, he'd hit one. Iwazaru forever kept her calm and followed him wherever he went  
"Geez I'd rather have Amy chase me then you guys!" Said Sonic, still trying to flee.

"Can't you just tell me why I have to kill her?"

* * *

 

"Kill who?"

That voice...he knew that voice. It came from behind him. He slowly turned around to see a Pink hedgehog in a red dress. Oh...  
"Amy?"

Amy stood there in confusion.  
"Who were you talking to?"

Sonic's mind ran rampant as he sped towards her, checking her over.  
"Areyouokay?You'renothurtoranythingareyou?" He asked, his way with words were on par with his foot speed, remembering what he'd seen just earlier.

Amy was taken by surprise. "What? Of course not. I'm perfectly fine." She said, a little wierded out.

"Where are you off to?" Asked Sonic. Amy paused for the moment, trying to figure out why Sonic seemed so paranoid.  
"Well, I was heading off to my grandmothers. She rang me a little while ago said she wanted to speak with me."

Sonic was all riled up and deeply concerned. His thoughts bouncing from everywhere and didn't know which one to pick up and use. He rubbed his head and blurted out a few incomprehensible words.  
"What?" Said Amy.

"I said...uh...I saw her a little while ago. She just got home. I think she said..uh..." he continued as he fumbled.

Amy grabbed Sonic's hand as he fidgeted. He then stopped as he froze his entire body.  
"Okay take a deep breath Sonic...I don't know what you've been doing but it's left you kinda strange..." She said with worry.

Sonic gave her one look. She was right. He was troubled from what he saw. He looked over to where the Prophetess and her Wisers were, and as per typical mystery fashion, they were no longer there. He looked back towards her. Amy was giving a minor smile that briefly warmed his heart. In a good way.

He wouldn't dare tell her what he'd just seen. Like before, he'd have to make up some story. The lying hurt but he had no choice. He just went with it.  
"I was in the neighborhood and I'd seen her walking around by herself. Then, out of nowhere a group of thugs decided to mug her. Knowing my own heroic resolve I rescued her and offered to walk her home."

Amy's eyes went wide. She bought it.  
"Oh no...I hope she's okay..." She said with a gasp.

"She'll be okay." Assured Sonic. "I got her home safely. I made sure she'd lock the door behind her and suggested she get extra security."

Amy sighed with relief.  
"Oh thank goodness...thank you so much Sonic."

Sonic expected a massive glomping and closed his eyes to await for temporary suffocation. Instead he felt nothing. He reopened his eyes. Amy was still standing there, looking through a brown bag of hers that hung on her shoulder.  
"She'd called me earlier to ask me to bring her some more of her favourite perfume." She said.  
"It's from Westopolis, but she complained the taxi fair from here to there was too expensive. So I often make runs to the shops.."

Sonic nodded. "So you heading there still?" He asked.

"Yeah. That and just to check up and see if she's okay." She answered. No...no she can't go there. Muriel will tell her side of the story. He'd hope Amy would fall for it due upon the thought that Muriel was senile but he wouldn't be able to confirm it. Instead a gust of wind made Sonic's quills dance slightly. Sonic turned around, and saw a small purple light fluttering about. Sonic gulped. Make up a story dammit!

"She told me she was going straight to bed. A good nights sleep will do her good, her dreams taking her away from today's troubles." He lied again.

Amy contemplated.  
"...Yeah...you're right. I'll see her in the morning..."

Close enough. He'd have to think of something else for her to think about other than her grandmother, trying to make her forget.  
"I'll go home then."

Sonic picked at the opportunity. Although he wondered if his next question was a honest plea or a shifty move.  
"Alright. Do you mind if I walked you home?"

Amy smiled. "Sure. Well it is late at night after all. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to after all."

* * *

It was getting late in the western parts of Central City. Although the CBD was still booming with its night life, of neon lights and giant billboards. Sonic's ears were ringing from the horns of traffic and the conversations of the streets. It was good to see civilization, albeit if those that lurk in the night were saner than those he'd seen in the daytime. But it as nice. Amy was completely composed and calm in an Amy sort of way; sweet, innocent and optimistic. Sonic listened to her rattling on about the latest fashion craze or what movie she'd seen recently. Hearing her babble became comforting, knowing she was well and truly okay unstrangled his stomach slightly. So far, there'd been no truth in visionaries including her. Surface wise there was nothing wrong. Just good ol' Amy Rose. It couldn't make him any happier. But...a voice in his head was nagging at him, trying to explain there was something missing from it all. He couldn't find or focus on it. He dug into the depths of his mind, where her mansion was. She was not opening the door for him. This Amy Rose was over-the-top and clingy, screaming incoherent words but a few; 'You missed our date.'

He half expected her to blurt out some proposal to do so. So far she didn't. She was sturdy and all the normal for it. Sonic couldn't complain, but...her mansion wasn't as...unkempt as it had been. Maybe his perception of her had been incorrect this entire time. Then it hit him. He'd been so stupid that it only just crossed his mind. He hardly knew her.

Sonic didn't know her family, didn't know what her favourite food or place of dining was. There was a distinct lack of knowledge surrounding herself other than the obvious. He never even gave a second thought about getting to know her better, albeit knowing about everyone else. He felt ashamed to know that everyone knew everything about him, yet the opposite stands clear that he knew nothing about them. Save for a few existent and trivial facts, such as Knuckles temper and gullibility, as well as Tails fear of lightning and tendency for techno-babble. But he did know their strong points, such as Knuckles determination and durability, as well as Tails being brave and his vast intellect that rivaled Eggman's. But other than that, nothing. For someone who felt like he was deeply close to his friends, they weren't pseudo family. But why should that stop him from being friends with them? Regardless of what he knew about anyone, what they are or what they do didn't matter, as long as they had a good heart and equal intentions. Surprisingly, Knuckles and Tails only had small cottages, and practically everyone else had plain, white and boring houses all along the same street. The differences with two of his best friends was that they were definitely cosy, and their cottages covered with thick vegetation, but they were comfortable in their corresponding deck chairs, living not too far from Amy. Apparently they lived in the same court, but with Amy's mansion sitting atop a mountain, separating the cottages.

Not before long, they ended up at Amy's place. Unlike his mental picture, it looked like she lived in an apartment situated on an empty street. She mentioned she rented this place not too long ago because the landlord was so nice, although he'd kept hitting her for some reason, which made Sonic laugh. They took the elevator to the seventh floor and stood outside her door. Sonic couldn't help but smile at her as she finally stopped speaking to look at him.  
"What is it?" Amy nervously asked, trying to look away.  
"Uh nothing..." Sonic replied, unaware of blush on his face.

Amy giggled. "I should say thanks for walking me home. We should chat like this more often."

Sonic nodded. "No problem at all."

Sonic knew she was right. Maybe he should chat to others more often. Although, where he was now, realizing that he could perhaps query Amy about her relations to the Rosoideae. If there was any. He was an idiot not to think of it beforehand. He wasn't even sure there was going to be a next time, knowing that the Prophetess and her Wisers lie on the horizon, awaiting for him to murder Muriel. He'd had argument looping over and over again, each time it didn't make any sense to him, it was baffling to say at the least. Sonic watched as Amy put the her keys into the lock and opened the door. "What are you going to do now?" He asked. Amy rested her hand on the doorknob and just stood and looked ahead. "I was watching a horror before my nan rang. It'll be over now."

Quick Sonic, ask her...ask her! He thought to himself. "I'm not doing anything at the moment. We could talk a bit more."

Amy strangely hesitated. She forced a smile as she turned her head to him.  
"Alright. Come on in! I'll make us some tea."

Sonic half-expected to see pink everywhere, or worse, some sort of shrine dedicated to him...or images of himself on everything bar the kitchen sink. He cursed signing that contract to that company SEGA, allowing them to make merchandise and games based off him. But as he walked through the door he was surprised. Her apartment was humble. Normal beige carpet that extended throughout a hallway. The first room to his left was the lounge room, consisted of a cream coloured couch facing towards him with white and red pillows. In front was a short and wide brown TV cabinet, holding a 55'' LCD TV with dozens of DVD's everywhere, White curtains on the left of the couch. To the right of him was the kitchen where Amy had turned on the kettle. It too was a simple red and white theme, with the stereotypical (or old school) black and white tiles on the floor, and the cupboards an draws were all made of redwood.

"I'll be right back. Meanwhile have a seat." She announced.

He nodded as he went into the living area which was one door down from the TV room. It had simple white chairs and couches, with their own white and red cushions. He stared at the redwood coffee table that had a simple red square table decoration in the middle of it. He sat down on the main couch and slouched over his knees, his elbows resting on them, rubbing his fingers through his quills. What could he tell her? The truth? The craziness that was going lately? The issue of confiding his worries to her clouded his mind, the problem of her understanding made him do constant rechecks and mental simulations of her reactions. It initially didn't worry him as much, but it made him scared that he was going to go crazy if it persisted on long enough. He could blame the cause on Shizaru, forcing him to do the unthinkable. Today, he'd been through enough...memories of the Gauntlet projected to him, reminding him of the horrors that he'd witnessed...meeting Olly and her group of latex and leather clad women, the Kimmibots and discovering who Abbadonia was, even though it had been for a brief moment. It had been a big day, and Sonic had all the rights to be tired, not that he would admit that anyone, including himself. Culminating his thoughts and feelings at the moment, it was just a big mess waiting to be cleaned up and sorted out. He sighed and lifted his head. He turned his head as he saw a deck of cards next to the table piece. Subsequently picking them up, he flicked through them and noticed they weren't the usual deck one would normally see.

"These are...tarot cards..." He muttered to himself. That's right...from what ever he could remember she used to use these quite a bit back in the day. He wondered if she still did, occasionally. He quickly put them back on the table as he heard Amy's big red boots on the kitchen floor. She came with one blue cup and one pink cup. Sonic chuckled.

"Can I take a guess which one is for me?" He joked. Amy smirked.  
"I have a cup that represents each of my friends. Cream came over one time and helped me get them. Although she decided to get one of those do it yourself ones that come with the textas."

Sonic could imagine it. Creams one would have had pretty pictures of herself and Cheese drawn on her name in a cutesy kids font.

"Yeah that sounds like her." Said Sonic. He leaned forward and clasped the cup in his hands. Amy had then switched her boots for fluffy pink slippers and chucked her boots back in her room further down the hallway. She came back sat on the other side of the couch and crossed her legs, sitting up straight and took a sip. Sonic did large drink and seemed to stare into space, which brought concern from Amy.

"So you wanted to talk about something?" She asked him.

He snapped back into reality. Now would be a good time to question her past, but do it real subtle.

"I realized now I hardly know you Amy. I thought it would good to get to understand what Amy Rose is all about."

Amy's face contorted from confusion. He was going to ask now? After all this time? This wasn't like Sonic. An upfront confrontation to 'talk' about herself. She became deep in thought for a brief moment, before answering him, then figure out what he was up to.

"So...uhh...what do you want to know? There's quite a few starting points to choose from." She answered.  
Sonic's eyes drilled deep into the cup. "You know, family, stuff like that."

"Oh..." She muttered. She had an inkling that this was about her grandmother. She held onto the belief that what he had told her either wasn't the whole story or the true story. She couldn't comprehend Sonic lying to her for any particular reason. She'd have to worry about that later, realizing these were just petty pointless beliefs. He might be genuinely trying to get to know her better. Deep down...she knew it was too late...  
She decided to tell him about her family anyway. There was no harm in it.

"From what my parents told me, my dad was a Brick Layer and my mother was an artist. They used to joke that I got my temper from her and my strength from him. He was the one who gave me my Piko Piko Hammer...right after we first me all those years ago, because he was worried that it might happen again and you might not be there if I got captured again."

Sonic gave a smirk of his own.  
"Heh...guess he was wrong huh?" He muttered. "Which makes me think...what were you doing on Little Planet anyway?"

Amy looked towards the tarot cards on the table.  
"Them." She said. Sonic looked surprised.

"Really?" He asked, as if not convinced.

Amy nodded. Though her power had grown by itself over the years, she hardly understood the reason why. She picked them up and started shuffling them.  
"These are my grandmothers. She gave them to me when I was little and told me that I would need them more than she did..."

That was the same excuse that Muriel apparently told Tails, circulating the book that she had written about her Garden. He wondered if he could ask her about it. "Does she do that often?" He asked.

"Sometimes." She answered.  
"She says its for the greater good. I say it's for charity. Which is one of the reasons I love her so much...it could be both."

Sonic nodded. "I see she works in a book store. I don't suppose she gives them away for free too."

Amy laughed. "No, of course not. She actually gets a lot of books through donations and does exchanges as well."

"I see." Said Sonic. "Has she written any of her own? I mean...she looks the type."

Amy tapped her lips with her index finger.  
"Uhhh...well, I remember she used to have a weird book that she kept with her."

This what he was looking for. Anything that sounded weird had to fit the topic at hand.

"What was so weird about it?" He wondered. "When I was younger, she would have the book in the back, stored away on a high shelf. I would come over to the book store and take a peak at what she was reading. But when she realized I was standing there, she would hastily put the book back and persistently ask me what I wanted."

This was beginning to sound suspicious. He had to know more. "Go on..."

Amy placed her cup down on the coaster and gave various gestures as she spoke.

"Anyway, one day, she'd gone out and left me inside the store and locked it from the outside. So I got a chair and went to go grab the book. I got down and went to the desk and opened it up."

"Then what happened?" Asked Sonic, more curious. Amy put her hands on her cheeks.

"The pages were completely blank. I'd flipped through them all and not a single page had any piece of writing on it."

Interesting progress, Sonic thought. This just had to be Tail's Book...just had to be. Out of all the cooky stuff he'd witnessed, this was comparably tame, albeit still solving attractive. If Muriel's Book had a spell, enchantment on it o whatever some supernatural thing attached, it might have been the reason why he had been split up from Tails and Knuckles. He kicked himself for not going to go search for them. He unconsciously frowned, which brought on Amy's attention. "Something bothering you Sonic?" She said, putting her hand on his arm to comfort him. There were many things bothering the Blue Blur...far too many. She seemed to have no clue as to her relation to this mystery. He'd hoped that there was a small chance that she would have nothing to do with it. It was mainly her grandmother, so Amy might accidentally be involved just by being in relation to her. He felt guilty for thinking she was connected, when the truth was she wasn't. She was just being a kind granddaughter. Sonic thought he would be relieved with that revelation...however that nagging had returned, trying to pull the bed sheets off his mind.

Rather than tell her straight up, he'd rather deal with other issues. He could express his current feelings to her just to make sure, or some other crud. Anything else was okay, as long as he could make up a topic. He took another scull from his tea and placed it on the coaster.

"All this talk about the strange and mysterious is putting me in the mood for some myself."

Amy scratched her head. "Uhh...okay. What do you have in mind?" She asked, a little freaked.

"Well, for starters, would you mind reading my future? Never seen it done before." He said.  
Amy blinked. "Um...I suppose. There's no harm in that."

Sonic decided to kick off his shoes as Amy shuffled the cards and sat on the other side of the coffee table. She put the ornament on the floor. Sonic sat on the other side with his legs crossed.

"Shouldn't we have candles or a crystal ball or whatever?" He joked. Amy's eyes narrowed.

"I don't use either. But if you're in the mood I can get candles." She suggested, still shuffling the cards.

"Nah I was kiddin'. That's stuff's for sleepovers." He said.

Amy laughed. "I did it once with Cream and her mother when I slept over there the other week."

"Yeah what happened?" Sonic asked. Amy couldn't help but grin. "Oh the things that her mother got were quite surprising."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow, seemingly amused. "Am I allowed to know what it was?" He said, smirking.

"I'd prefer to keep it confidential. Let's just get started with yours first." She replied.

Sonic nodded.  
"Righteo then." He replied. Amy placed the cards to her right.  
She sat on her knees on top a cushion, and looked at Sonic. "Ready?" She asked.  
"Always." Answered Sonic. He watched as she picked up the first card from the deck and placed it on the table, facing Sonic. It was a picture of a noble man carrying a sword and holding a set of scales.

"Justice." She read out. She closed her eyes and placed her hands in her lap.  
"There's a desire to do right, if and on your interpretations. Its the way you see it...but in the end you might have some difficult choices to make."

Simply amazing, its as if it was painting a portrait of his situation, if not, his life On the topic of choices, it became notable that he was being forced to make them. He had a variety of options to choose from and normally he'd pick the one that would be the most moral or if they were all relatively moral, choose the one that would take the least amount of time to depict and enact.

Amy reopened her eyes to seek Sonic's once more.  
"Ready to keep going?"

Sonic responded with a subtle nod. Amy reached over to the deck and picked up another card, placing it on the table. The picture displayed a naked angel with a white drape around it, standing on top of the Earth. This time it was facing Amy. Sonic went to go see what it said and tried to switch the card around, before Amy slapped his hand. "It's supposed to be like that." She argued.

Sonic rubbed his hand. "Why? Is there any reason why it's upside down?" He queried.

Amy again closed her eyes. "The World. Normally, it would mean you would have a sense of accomplishment and a succeeded spirit, but considering it's reversed, it means the opposite."

"Come again?" Sonic prodded.

Amy took a deep breath before proceeding.  
"It appears you are quite frustrated, afraid that something might change for the worse. Incomplete and inundated with problems."

Sonic blinked. Such big words for a little hedgehog. He wondered if this was another of those stupid, cryptic messages from the great beyond. But he felt real. This was getting far too accurate for his own comfort. How could these cards describe so much? Indeed he was frustrated...frustrated over every nook and cranny, frustrated with life, frustrated with that had been pushing him into pits of darkened worry and culmination of enlightened importance. Were these done before? He had been in this before? He wondered if he could possibly avoid it, although it would tarnish his reputation. What would he prove by running away from stuff he couldn't understand. He blamed Abbadonia and her part. Inside he just knew she played a massive part. Her ploy was no doubt of destructive passions and explosive deeds. The need to find out what she truly wanted became another task of his to do. This became more than an ordinary hero's mission...it was a mission to discover who he was and what he more he could do other than to rush and smash things, hoping to destroy them all the way.

"One more, then I'll think I'll hit the sack..." Said Sonic, yawning.  
"Okay." Amy responded, having giving looks of genuine concern. She reached over to the cards again and picked one up. Having placed it next to other two, this one had a naked human male on side and a naked female on the other, an angel in between. As it had faced him, Sonic read out the text on it "The Lovers." he muttered. He hoped this didn't mean what he thought it meant. Amy closed her eyes once more.

"Yes. Doesn't necessarily have to do with love." She mentioned, sounding a bit disappointed.  
"But it does surround the possibilities in relation to the Justice Card, namely with a issue of choice. It also stands out the premise of using your intuition and not intellect. A need for renewed guidance."

Again, she was right. Or they were right. He'd always use his instincts to guide him throughout his various journeys and adventures. Whether it was battling Dr. Eggman or some random race with some random guy who believed that they could be faster than him. What ever it was, it was the Wind that guided him throughout. The visualization of surrendering to logic wasn't as difficult as it seemed. However on the count of his own present logistics, it wasn't too hard to swallow.

"So all-in-all, can you...justify or...sum them up all together?" Sonic stumbled. He watched as Amy brought the cards closer to herself, bringing them up to her face and scanning them with her eyes, drifting left to right and right to left, squinting. Finally she placed them back down on the table.

"You feel obliged to be the hero is how I'm reading it. The tendency to be strong and brave and swift in the eyes of others. You've questioning yourself as fate would have it. And it's exhausting. Making the right choice isn't the problem, but with the world on your shoulders it's whether the choice is morally correct, burying conscience and uprooting forced standings that aren't mutual. What ever you choose is cannot be based of your own...but it can only be made because it was supposed to be that way. Which makes me wonder...are you feeling okay Sonic?"

Sonic didn't know how to answer that question. Ever since that dream he'd shoved off the prospect of supposed weirdness and acted himself, surprisingly building the facade of himself. There was a Sonic in there, but someone else had taken control and shoved him in the dungeons of his conscious mind, forcing it to appear as a front. Amy tried to make eye contact but at no avail. "Is there something you want to speak to me about?"

"Are the cards...always right?" He prodded, which took Amy by surprise.

"My grandmother tutored me, at the expense and disapproval of my dad, but she always told me the cards are never wrong. I try to stick by them." She answered calmly. That didn't help Sonic one bit. He'd hate to be so stubborn to take the truth in all this but for something so petty and minor she was right. She'd eventually find out what really happened, and mentally debated whether she'd hate him for it.

"You seem very well mannered tonight Amy. Actually kind of...insightful if I'm not mistaken." Sonic commented. Although he didn't know whether that was a kind of accidental flirting or a middle-ground compliment. He wanted to believe the latter.

Amy glared at Sonic. "And what do you mean by that Mister?" She scorned. Sonic gulped. Oops.

"N-nothing...just..." Sonic stuttered, trying to save himself from the wrathful swomp of her hammer. "I've never heard you speak like that. You must take this tarot stuff very seriously then."

Amy frowned and sighed. "Indeed we do...although it never gets me what I truly want though." Oh God...here it comes. Sonic knew what she meant by that. He had to reassure her. "Well, no one does. In fact, we always want what we can't have. There's also the factor that we don't know we've got until it's gone."

Amy shirked slightly as she looked away. "I know, I know...we have to try and make the best of what we already have."

Sonic smiled. "That's the spirit. I don't have much at all, physically speaking...so I make good use of what's here and now."

Amy chuckled. "You know...it's strange..."

"What's that?" Asked Sonic. "Us talking. We've never actually done this properly. And already we know a lot more about each other than we have in...how ever long we've known one another."

Sonic. "True..." He said. What she had spoke of was incredibly useful, even more than he'd realized. Maybe if he'd done this a long time ago maybe he'd never had to resort to running away from her so often. If he had once agreed to go on a date with her and actually listened to her, then there would have been a new insight of her in her mansion. Which had finally opened it's doors, but he would only be allowed in so few of her rooms. He became worried about himself however, and the ever-looming factor that became a minuscule knot in his stomach that he could not define, and shrugged it off as what ever he had at the Village in Sakura. But...he didn't have time...

Amy stood up and stretched her arms. "Well I'm going to bed now, You're more than welcome to stay the night." She said, yawning. Sonic was becoming sleepy too. He looked at the time on wall. It was getting closer to 12 o'clock. Amy had a look as well. "Oh my, it's passed my bed time. I've got to do some work tomorrow."

"Amy Rose works?" Sonic repeated. Well, maybe he didn't know all about her, but it was a start. Amy paused for the moment, before facing back to Sonic. "Just...office work really. I work in a company down town. Nothing much really, but it's good pay." She mentioned.

Sonic nodded. "Huh...oh okay..."

Amy put the cushions back on the chairs and tidied up the living area. "I'll get the spare pillows and blankets from the hallway cupboard. You can sleep in the lounge room. If you can't sleep feel free to watch TV or watch a movie."

Sonic nodded. He walked into the lounge room and stood in there, tapping his foot and waited for her. She came in with a white doona and several pillows and put them on the couch. "Well, that should do." Amy said. Sonic nodded. "Thanks." He responded. The two stood there looking at each other very briefly.

"..Good night Sonic." "Good night...Amy..."

–

Sonic lay there stretched out on the couch with one hand dangling and the other resting on chest. Indeed he knew he couldn't sleep. Too much going in his head. Now Amy knew something was wrong but reacted in a matter he didn't see coming. She'd been incredibly calm and sincere. Out of character for her, who was usually clingy, obsessive and just too darn persistent. It might be all because he'd save her and it suddenly became a cheesy rescue romance. It wasn't just him after all. Upon this thought he'd know he had to keep a close on her...but like before, it could be nothing. She could be doing the exact same task...lying awake in bed with thoughts embezzling. She said those words and she interpreted those cards as such.

No...why would he be thinking that. He should be more concerned with Tails and Knuckles. Mentally he wanted to get moving...only for his body to fail doing so, just laying there with apathetic cares. His thoughts bounced from topic to topic...eventually floating in the middle of jumbled pieces of memories. He wanted the mental noise to disappear completely. Then it became quiet...too quiet that all her heard the slight ringing in his ears. His eyes must have shot themselves as what little light he saw faded away in the blackness. Finally he'd fallen asleep. It could be good for him, to let his dreams assess his mental structure and be free with what he had.

Light warped into his view, finding himself in that very same grassy field he was in the other day.

He quickly got up and stretched...then realized it was a dream, thus he wouldn't need too...but this dream wasn't entirely lucid by normal standards. He jumped a few times, before blasting off in a random direction. This was good, nice. The sun shone down on him with its beautiful warmth. He enjoyed running up, down, eventually the area had melded into good ol' Green Hill Zone, complete with classic badniks that were easily as smashed, ran through loops and collected rings like an old pastime. Everything had shirked away and the dream became it's runaway zone. Nothing to fear, nothing to hide. He could run forever if he wanted to.

"Sonic?"

Sonic opened his eyes to see Amy leaning over him.  
"Oh it's you." He mumbled. He sat up as Amy sat down next to him, her eyes never leaving his face. Her own was still and emotionless. Her stare was beginning to freak him out, causing him to sweat a bit.

"Is...anything the matter?" He asked. She didn't reply, instead raising her hand to stroke his cheek with her index finger, then caressed it with her palm.

"Uhh...Amy, I...I don't know what you're doing but it's kinda weirding me out..." He responded. She kept the same dull expression throughout. Sonic couldn't shuffle backwards, as he was already on the side of the couch. He tried moving his head back, curving up to the corner. But she kept getting closer, much to his discomfort. She grabbed hold of his head prevent him from squirming, and shoved her lips onto his. His eyes went wide as his arms and legs flailed about. His yells and screams were dummied out. He felt her tongue swarming over his. What the hell was wrong with her? His stomach metaphorically burst out in flames. She held his arms down, preventing him from running away. He could feel drips of sweat coming down from his forehead.

Finally he gathered enough strength to shove her off of him, Amy falling back to other side of the couch. Sonic panted with puzzlement, his expectation of her to display sadness, disappointment, offended or all of the above...was disproved as she sat there motionless. He had to recompose himself as Sonic went to open his mouth, then witnessed her head drooping. She looked...ashamed, embarrassed complete with tinges of red on her cheeks. No words were spoken as silence filled the rest of the space that the elephant hadn't. Sonic's heart started to hurt as his stomach churned. He held on to his heart as looked down at his chest, then turned back to Amy. Both of them were a mess, entangled in misbegotten and unkempt feelings. He no longer could think for himself, sitting there with a girl he knew could be psychotic. There was a distinct lack of conscious thoughts, and instead a strange passionate desire in it's place, throwing all common sense out the window. The room was spinning, with Amy and him becoming the only still beings in the room. He clasped and opened his fist repetitively. He then scrunched it, gritting his teeth. Amy sat there on the other side of the couch, with her legs folded by her sides, supposedly waiting for Sonic to do something.

Upon instance impulse, he flung himself as at her, pushing his lips down onto hers. He couldn't understand what it was, but it became obvious that he liked it. The lack of any thought was quickly filled with blasting emotions that he thrived on, making him kiss her all the harder, with her running her fingers through his quills. It felt good...it felt great. But he couldn't understand any of it, nor did he care. It was just happening and it was wild...free...his stomach was at subatomic levels but he failed to notice. He kissed her neck, receiving a pleasured moan as a result. His arm slowly went down her arm, touching her gentleness. Suddenly a flash of violet light appeared above Amy's head, Sonic's own forced up, almost blinded by it, put his other arm over his eyes to see what the heck it was. It throw itself at him, his whole vision turning white...

–

Sonic opened his eyes. He was again staring at the roof, held in darkness. His hands still rested in his chest. That...was a dream. What the hell was he doing? He wiped the sweat off his forehead, still in shock from it. His inner voice soon chastised him for doing the unspeakable.  _How could you Sonic? How could you take advantage of it?_  It sickened him. He shook his head. He had to get up and get a drink from the kitchen. He searched the cupboards for glasses, before finding one and filled with water from the tap. He sculled it down and wiped his face. The only comfort that he took from his dream was that it wasn't real. He checked to time on the wall. It was almost five am. He was still mentally exhausted and was annoyed his dreams didn't help at all. He hoped next time was just mindless and didn't take a life of their own. Constantly cursing himself, Sonic headed back to the couch. He could leave at any moment, but he unconsciously refused to. The comfort of being in a warm and cosy home was humbling, but not to him. He'd normally sit and stare at the stars until he fell asleep. There was no true home for Sonic the Hedgehog. He kept to the mantra of 'Where ever he laid his head, was home.' But for tonight...or today...he just needed that stability of a furbished place, where four walls and a roof gave a sense of wise safety. Not that there was anything wrong with sleeping in doors every so often. It was winter, he could normally handle the cold, but some nights he'd stay with Tails if it got a bit too chilly, but other than that, there was nothing better than winding down to nap in the great outdoors.

He tried to shove everything away and just let sleep take over, praying that he wouldn't have another wandering strike of spontaneous make-out sessions with Amy. He thought back to his usual dreams of her, only when they occurred. They say that most of the time you can hardly remember them, but some absolutely stand out, possibly becoming false rooms in any of his friends houses.

Like the dream where he was out on a date with Amy, and suddenly her head got so big it exploded. Whether or not it had some meaning to it didn't matter, at least it temporarily shut her up through out it. He cultivated these 'Date Dreams' as proverbial nightmares. He closed his eyes, but sudden beeps disallowed him to fall back in. He groaned, then realized it was most likely Amy's alarm. He feigned sleep, hearing in as Amy hopped into the shower. She was doing what any general every-date go-getter would be doing...getting ready for work. In fact he was more surprised that she would be waking up at this time of morning.

Time passed as she headed into the kitchen and made herself toast, the smell of it making Sonic's stomach rumble, in which he deeply wished Amy couldn't hear it. But then the scent of jam made it worse. She sat down at the table and nibbled everything down. Sonic then heard a ring tone go off. He pondered who would be calling her this time of morning.

"Amy Rose speaking..." She whispered. "Oh...its you... I have a guest sleeping over at the moment...that's why I have to whisper...really?...I'll be right over Shadow...thanks."

Did she say Shadow? He heard shuffling about then stop for a while. More shuffles came afterward before she headed out the door in a huff. Sonic opened one of his eyes to make sure she was gone. He sat up from the couch and ruffled through his fur, then grabbed his shoes and strapped them on.

"Good morning..."

Sonic jumped backwards. "Shizaru...don't do that..." He chortled. She stood there with that same damn look on her face.

"You had the chance to break it off. And yet, like the others, failed to do so. Do you want change?" She questioned.

Sonic stood up proud.  
"I've decided not to listen to your damn nonsense. You speak of justice and wisdom then you force to me to commit a crime that I wouldn't do in a thousand years!" He roared at her.

"You do, and there will be consequences to your actions. You praise instinct when you should be praising logic more. Your instinct to use your speed for every problem will not work forever." She warned.

Sonic huffed. "Well until it decides to stop working, I will run for everything I stand for. It show's I care for life when I come to help those in need."

Shizaru lowered her head. "You will come to regret this."

Sonic decided to blast outside. Today he was going to find Tails and Knuckles.

* * *

It was now getting onto six am, and Sonic was still running around, trying to charge his way back to Holoska, back to where the others were. He felt guilty for leaving them there, possibly dead or captured, which made him even more determined to find them. What would Shizaru know...

All he had was his speed and a set of skills needed to survive. It was the Sonic package. Blistering through many a zone, many a city. He'd eventually got to Holoska several hours later, with the help of hitchhiking boats to get across the ocean, then he'd run off again, saying thanks. Fleeing up north, he saw the mountains that surrounded the Garden. But something was strange. He speed around them, noticing, that somehow, there had been a massive Oil refinery built behind them. A lot of the snow had melted, revealing solid earth, creating pools and lakes because of greenhouse gases.

Sonic could see tonnes of Eggman robots all over the place, holding tools and iron bars, some welding and some hammering away. Sonic was going to have none of it.

"Interesting...let's see if I can get to the bottom of this..." He smirked. With a spring and dash in his step, Sonic began obliterating his way to center of the problem. He bounced here and there and within his destructive winds blew up devices here and there, until he met up with a dilemma.

Skidding to a halt, Sonic noticed a massive gap between where he was and the other cliff side. Looking around where he was, the environment was like a nuclear winter. Snow fell, covering the area in white. He didn't realize he was so high up that greenhouses didn't matter. Everything was white, and the only other colour he saw was tiny red jewel like lights that brightened and dimmed every few seconds. He shrugged off the cold, and looked over the edge. All he could see was the oil staining the water below. Sonic took a few steps back to get the charged momentum he needed, as he dashed, hoped and soared over the canyon-like gap. His arms and legs flailed in rhythmic motion as his heart raced, the only fear was falling, in which he let the adrenaline flow.

Time seemed to slow down as he jumped over. What felt like minutes was only a couple of seconds. At last he was coming to the end...and successfully landing on his feet. He took a bow, but remembered no one was around to see it. Not that he cared, he was now free to proceed.

Up head was a large dome, which had to be where Eggman was. Smashing more robots, headed up elevators, dodging lasers. Stuff he'd done a million times before and it never got old. It made his worries float away, knowing he'd get to the bottom time in no time at all. As he got closer to the dome, he could get a better description. The top half looked like it was either rusting or beginner to wear out. Didn't matter, it was going to go on Sonic's terms. Whether Eggman liked it or not. It was Robotnik Red for tear, surrounded by gigantic bolts and poles. The entrance was a big iron door, which Sonic had to figure out how to get through. He fled through tunnels and more loops, blasting badniks and making mince meat out of any diabolical devices that threatened to taint the terrain. At last he had gotten to to big iron doors.

Sonic laughed."Come on Eggman, that was too easy!" He taunted. Coming up to the door, he heard a thump and felt the ground vibrate. Sonic turned around to being forced to look up at a giant monster. It was black with purple spikes, humanoid shaped with limbs more rounded and jolly. Typical Eggman Ego head. Big deep eyes constantly switched and swerved one another, mustache as superficial as Eggman's successes as it's round arms held not only spikes, but each had a laser on top. Sonic took a quick stance and watched it churn. It first released a barrage of spikes, one by one launching off it's arms and rocketing themselves off to Sonic. He made quick work by jumping and hopping onto each other, forcing them down by helping gravity work. After the last spike, Sonic managed to get onto it's head. The robot, angered, decided to foolishly whack it's own head, almost knocking itself out after Sonic got off and taunted it.

"Oohh big scary robot...more like big stupid robot..." He smirked. Steam came out of the robots holes as he stomped about with rage. It raised both arms as the lasers tried to aim at him. Sonic barely dodged them both as it fired purple bolts. It seared the rails and the floor, giving Sonic an idea.

The floor was just metal railings, with nothing underneath. Sonic ran underneath the robot, giving raspberries to it.

"Hey Mr. Robot! I'm down here!" He snickered, poking his tongue out, then patting his butt. Enraged, the robot aimed below him, just as Sonic hoped he could. Sonic slow walked around it's legs as the robots torso spun about, blasting the laser into a full circle. Sonic hopped out of the way and waved at the robot, who was confused and scratched it's head.

"Cya!" Sonic announced, waving. The Robot looked down, and waved its arms about as it fell down to the depths below. Sonic chuckled, amused at as his own success. He dusted his hands off then walked over to the Iron Gate, which opened itself. He wandered into the dome and glanced at it.

Wind howled as it bounced off the red-stained innings. It didn't have decent heating as he'd hoped. Instead there was a object floating about a dais, not to different from the one that he'd seen in the Gauntlet. It was box shaped and an orange glow seeping out of runes. Sonic related it to the Sphere of Abyss. He checked his surroundings then headed over to it. It floated there as whispers echoed throughout. Sonic was tempted to touch it, open it, but he knew better.

"Hang on there!"

Sonic looked over his left.  
"Agent Bazooka?"

Bazooka somehow glided her way to Sonic after she jumped off an upper walkway. She was still wearing the slim tight mixture of leather and latex-like material that shaped her very tall body nicely, and had her signature weapon strapped to her back.

"Please, call me Bazza." She said in sweet but stern tone.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"On a mission. Collecting Artifacts." She replied.

"Still?" Sonic exaggerated.  
"Eggman had this base spring up over night. This wasn't what he was looking for specifically, but it did well for Abbadonia." She continued.

Abbadonia. That name...the image...filled him with untold hatred.  
"Eggman's teamed up with her...and they're looking for these sorts of doodads? That sounds about right..." He mentioned.

"Yes. This one is called, the Box of Temptation."

No wonder he had the need to touch it. With a name like that all kinds of weird stuff would occur.

"Do you know what it does?" Asked Sonic.

Bazooka nodded. "Our sources confirm that it can grant wishes, however in order to grant a single wish, you must sacrifice a soul in order to do so."

Sonic blinked. "Woah...heavy stuff. But Eggman isn't murderous. There's a difference between wanting to get rid of someone and actually kill them. Nowadays I reckon he just makes robots and difficult obstacles deliberately to slow me down. Not that I mind, it's a little game of ours that we've been doing for years."

"We understand that. It's the fact that it being Eggman's possession is very disturbing." She replied.

They both had a glance at the Box.  
"We have to take it back to headquarters and seal it in so deep that not even the best machines can reach it."

Sonic chuckled. "If that's what you expect."

Bazza snuffed and turned around. "Eggman has gotten weaker over time anyway. Not as strong as he used to be."

Sonic rubbed his nose. "He's always been weak, but he's had his fair share of wins and near-misses. Although in the end...I'm always here to save the day!"

Bazza sweat-dropped. "I'm talking about his weaponry! It's weak! For instance, that robot outside...he had one...it was easy to destroy!"

Sonic laughed. "Yeah I got rid of one easily too. Must have been two or something."

Bazza stomped her foot. "That was a Blue-X23 Compound Laser he attached to both it's arms. That model is outdated. Eggman's obviously out for quantity over quality. If he wanted something more effective, he should have gotten the Red-X34. Larger ranged, wider lens. Heaps of destructive power. Although I'd be more concerned about what energy cores he uses and whether his robots have efficient recoil hydrolics."

Sonic gave a surprised look. "What did you say?"

Bazooka shook her head. "Uh...never mind...I'm just going off in a tangent. Anyway, I'll need to grab the box." She said as she went over to it and snatched it...

INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT, INITIATING INTRUDER DESPONDENT PROTOCOL!

Sonic looked around as red lights flashed everywhere. The floor below them shifted suddenly, Sonic and Bazza took one look at each with fear, as the floor gave way, causing the two to descend rapidly. Bazza accidentally let go of the Box. "No!" She screamed. Sonic tried to use his quills to make the descent a little slower, but looked up to see blue and white jet-shaped robots decided to shoot at him at the last moment.

"Ah I see your little game here!" Bazza cried. "Crimson-S2.0s. Compact, light for mobility. Good for multiples and those with low energy but fast recharges."

Sonic couldn't believe this woman. She was worse than Tails. They were both falling and she would rather pay more attention to some stinking lasers then they were either going to get killed from being shot or the inevitable splatter. Sonic looked downwards as more of the jetbots came out of holes. He took his chance and landed on one, getting a boost out of it and making a chain of jumps, obliterating the jetbots with force.  
'"Sonic land on my back!" Cried Bazza. Sonic didn't have a choice. Sonic bounced off a few more, before finally getting on her back.   
"Grab them Bazza!" He called out.

"Don't worry! It's the 1337-A4N174 or the "Primal Pocket Portable Parader", the rockets shrink and expand. The ammo should be in my little bag." She explained. He couldn't understand the majority of what she said, but all Sonic knew, was that he could see a smaller than usual bazooka on her back in a silver shine. He unstrapped from her back and rested it on his shoulder, then looked for the ammo. He quickly rummaged through the bag as Bazza herself extended her arms and legs and somehow raised her pony-tails and expanded them immensely, flapping slightly. Sonic had not time to ask or think how she did it, instead he grabbed a single ''rocket'' which had to be the size of a peanut. It confused Sonic, but again, he had no time. He shoved the rocket into the slot and slammed it in. Suddenly the bazooka expanded.  
"Alright, starting shooting, I'll try and and slow our descent and dodge." She said. Sonic knelt down started aiming. On cue, a group of jetbots clustered together.

  
"They're the multiples conjoinment. Quickly, get rid of them!" Bazza yelled. Sonic pulled the trigger, releasing a rocket and making a fireworks display out of the jetbot cluster.

"Good job Sonic!" Bazza cried out, giving a thumbs up. "There's some more up ahead."

Sonic reloaded and aimed, but for some reason they were descending quicker than before.

The network of Jetbots clustered together again to make another charged shot. Sonic aimed once more, and fired away. Debris flew everywhere, forcing Bazza to dodge and Sonic to keep balance. Noticing they were going even faster now, Sonic realized it was because of the recoil.

After several minutes or so of falling, they came into an open clearing, which was a massive cave embroiled with little landmass and lava. Bazza saw the box in her sights.  
"Hang on!" She said. She withdrew her arms to her sides, closed her legs and tilted diagonally, Sonic grabbed onto the back of her suit.  
"Now Sonic!"

They were near the end as Sonic strapped the bazooka back onto Bazza's back and jumped off to use his quills in an attempt at a slower decline. He finally reached the bottom safely, and watched as Bazza grabbed the box, then raised her 'pony-tails' and flapped them about rapidly. She gently fell down to the ground. Sonic nodded, visibly impressed.   
"Wow, that was pretty awesome!" He said, giving her a high five.  
"Heh of course." She said, responding.

Bazza held the box under one arm as she and Sonic looked around the cave. Sonic gazed upwards, then scanned the area. It reminded him of when and Chip once versed Dark Gaia.  
"Wow...this gives me memories..." He muttered to himself. Bazza knelt down on knee and pressed a button on the side of her helmet.   
"Agent Mjöllnir Object confirmation." She coded.  
"Good work Agent Bazooka. Where are you now?" Asked Olly.

"Down in the Earths depths. I need an immediate evac."

"Copy that, Me and Agent Drainer are honing in on your signal as we speak."

Bazza stood back up. "Well, at least that's over." She said with relief. "Still, something doesn't feel right."

Sonic nodded. "You're right, this area...it's entirety. Do you think this was planned by Eggman?"

"Chances are high." She replied. "Just keep an eye out."

Sonic did so, and kept his awareness transfixed on any sudden movements in the walls or in the lava. Their heads immediately moved towards in front of the mass of land they were standing on, within the lava something stirred and bubbled. A metallic serpentine monster burst out of it and roared at the two. It was long and baubled, had to stand at least five to eight meters tall, with green on one side and silver on the other. The face was round with large chompers constantly clattering, with Eggman obviously sitting in the cockpit

"Think you can get away with stealing that box Sonic? Prepare for the Egg Venom!" He hammed. Sonic and Bazza exchanged looks.   
"I'm ready when you are." Announced Bazza. "Always." Replied Sonic with a thumbs up. Bazza knelt down on one knee and grabbed her bazooka.

"Hang on, just need to adjust it..." She said, tinkering with it. CLINK! It expanded dramatically, causing Sonic to stand back in surprise.   
"Woah..."

"Get in." She strained as she placed the weapon on her shoulder. Sonic nodded as he rolled into a ball and hopped into the back of the bazooka. The Egg Venom started firing spits of acidic compound at Bazza, who was forced to get up and move with the heavy load. In a pinch, she managed to set back down temporarily and hastily aim at the head. SHUMPF!

Sonic in his spin ball fired out of the barrel towards the head. Using his homing attack, he used his savvy attack to beat the machine into submission, bouncing off it several times before destroying a red orb on top. Hearing what appeared to be breaking glass, he hopped off and ran back towards Bazza. The Egg Venom shook it's head and retreated back into the lava.

"I saw the orbs. We have to destroy the other two." Said Bazza. She used the time they had to strap the box to her belt. She then went through her bag and pulled out two golden rings.  
"Here absorb one. I think we may need them down here." She suggested. Sonic complied as he took one. He clasped it down, the ring fading away into his body, causing a slight glow.   
"Feel much better. Cheers Bazza!" He thanked with a thumbs up.

The Egg Venom burst out of the lava behind them and gave a loud roar. Bazza absorbed her ring as they switched around, Sonic heading back into the barrel of the bazooka. The Egg Venom again spat out the acidic compound, forcing Bazza to start moving around to avoid them. Two more bursts appeared as more Egg Venoms rose up from the lava.  
"Where they hell did they come from?" She muttered in strain. She aimed for one of them and fired away. SHUMF!

Sonic shot out of the bazooka and aimed to the left most one. He homed in on all three of the orbs and destroyed them all in sequence, causing the machination to break down. As Sonic was finished with that he jumped back to the solid surface and kept an eye on the swarm of Venoms as one sunk down, settling down in the lava. Spats of acid forced Sonic to weave and dodge backwards as they got closer. He went back to Bazza and jumped back into the gun. She aimed at the closest one and fired...SHUMF!

Sonic homed in on another, bashing into the orbs several times, eliminating it like before. Given some air, Sonic straightened his body out, and honed in on Eggman's cockpit. He went into a spindash, and blasted the glass. Without word, Bazza decided to withdraw her Bazooka and went for a smaller gun. The only words spoken were techno-babble that Sonic ignored, as he got back on his own two feet. Bazza strapped the bazooka onto her back and started firing away using her smaller gun. In laser bursts, Bazza shot at each of the Egg Venom's orbs, causing screeches and making them sink. Firing a few more, she looked behind her as a spat of acid narrowly missed her. She took better care as she somersaulted forward, missing another one. Turning to her side, she stepped back, then bolted towards one of the the Venoms and flipped, three shots destroying more orbs. She used her "ponytails" and flapped to prevent herself falling in, then looked around as she was surrounded by four Egg Venoms.   
"You have to teach me how to mass-produce. I seriously could make a fortune on duplications..." She said, not even worried.

Sonic was too busy on his end to notice Bazza, instead more focused on the fact that Eggman's own machine had decided to shape shift, the snake turning into a lizard and leaping onto the solid surface.

"You think you might beat me this time little warthog! But you won't!" Eggman gloated. Sonic snorted. "Yeah, yeah what ever you say Eggman..."

The Venom rose its front claw and tried to swipe Sonic, only for said hedgehog roll backwards and give him the tongue. Eggman was intent of pulling it out of his mouth, as the Venom's mouth opened and extended it's own long, blue and slithery tongue and wrapped itself around Sonic.

"Ahaha! Got you now!" Eggman roared. Sonic struggled to get himself out of the bind. The Venom cracked and crinkled, steaming shooting out of its joints. It squatted down, as Sonic watched the limbs turn hot red and the serpentine parts rumble and shake.

  
"Uh oh...this can't be good." Sonic commented. In an instant, the Venom catapulted upwards, the limbs quickly swerving a good one eighty degrees and clung onto the roof of the cave. Sonic witnessed the demonic smirk that Eggman seemed to possess as he stroked his 'stache. He pressed a few buttons, as the tongue rolled back and forth. Sonic closed his eyes and fumbled around to get free. He reopened them as as explosion sounded out below him. Bazza had eliminated the the lesser Venoms. Sonic grinned.

"How's it hangin'?" Bazza joked. That grin turned into a nervous one.   
"Hang on, I'm comin'!"

Eggman started whacking Sonic about, causing a little dizziness on his side. Bazza took a foothold on the surface and whacked out her Bazooka once more. She put in her specialized ammo and aimed at the legs. SHUMF!

The Egg Venom creaked and shackled, the rounded out parts of it swirled and shivered. Bazza fired again on the other side, destroying a middle limb, which was a little too close for Sonic's comfort. Noticing this, Bazza shook her head at a sudden realization. "Woops...guess I was having too much fun there? Heh..." She muttered...she pulled out her smaller gun, and shot at the straightened layer of tongue, splitting it two and freeing Sonic. Sonic free-falled to the ground, and went over to Bazza.

"Sorry Sonic, I get a little carried away." Bazza apologized.   
"Don't sweat it, I do the same sometimes..." Sonic replied in sympathy.

The Egg Venom's limbs finally gave way, forcing it to break off from the roof and slam down hard.

Eggman slammed on the panel before him. He pressed a few more buttons, raising the Egg Mobile that was held inside the Venom. "Bah...it's not over yet!" He grunted. He pulled out a miniature portable device that had a single button on it. Eggman pressed it, hailing a sinister snarl on his make-up. Suddenly, the cave started shaking violently. Sonic stood back and looked around as rocks fell from above.  
"He's trying to cave us in!" Bazza cried.  
"Bazza there's no time for puns here! We gotta split!" Sonic scolded. Bazza strapped on all she didn't have strapped on...except...

"The Box!" Bazza shrieked. She fervently scanned for it, noticing it was under one of the rocks that fell. Sonic looked up as Bazza picked up the box. "Bazza watch out!" He yelled. On instinct, Sonic sped towards her, and leapt into the air, turning into a spindash and breaking the rock apart.

"Woah...thanks Sonic...I guess I was a little rocky wasn't I?" She joked. Sonic rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand.  
"Come on!" He yelled. They went over to where they had originally fallen through, dodging falling rocks along the way.  
"Where is that evac?" Wondered Bazza. She had no choice.  
"Sonic hold this!"

She gave Sonic the the box, before picking Sonic up by his waist, then used her 'pony-tails' to fly upwards. She frequently tried to avoid the falling debris. Weaving, falling slightly, barraging, left, right, up and down and in all directions in which the rocks and other pieces of steel and iron intending the stop them or slow them down. Jetbots appeared out of nowhere to try and do the same thing, but ended up being clobbered. Come to the five minute mark of doing such physically demanding labor, Bazza showed signs of fatigue. "Are you alright?" Sonic asked, noticing that they had slowed down somewhat.

"I haven't done this for very long...I'd never thought I'd do anything like this..." She answered in bated breath.

"Let me go, I can use to rocks to get back up if I'm too heavy." He suggested.  
"I don't really want to, but don't get 'boulderized' if you know what I mean..." she joked.

Sonic again showed minor disdain, but as Sonic gave back the box to Bazza, she let go of him as he used each of the falling rocks to jump higher and higher up the hole. With a little less weight, Bazza had a bit more strength and endurance to allow her to try and spear herself upwards. Sonic bashed in more Jetbots, spindashed here and there and obliverated rocks to higher heaven. Bazza decided to whip out her gun and started blasting the the Jetbots.

"Did somebody call for evac?" Shouted a voice.   
"Agent Mjöllnir!" Cried Bazza with relief.

Up higher was Olly and Drainer, Olly busy busting rocks and Jetbots whilst she and Drainer stood on a specialized hoverboards, that Sonic noted that looked like Extreme Gear. They were lengthened like skateboards, with a thin red strip in the middle of thick black outer areas, that were rounded on each side, with a dip in the middle sides. Blue flames emitted from the bottom, gusting out from four geysers. Sonic could see it was wide enough to fit at least a few more people. Sonic jumped on, while Drainer kept an eye on the controls, which purtruded off a pipe. With a few presses, rails shot out of the sides. Bazza finally came up from below and landed on it as well. They held onto the bars while Drainer tail-gated them all out of here, with Bazza giving Sonic the Box back while they blasted the rest of the rocks and jetbots away, Olly using her Smish-Smasher hitting anything that Bazza missed.

Eventually they came to surface out back into the dome, Drainer not stopping until they were at a decent clearing. Sonic looked on as the Cold Oil Zone collapsed on itself, exploding and bursting into flames. Sonic wiped his forehead.  
"Woah...that was close..." He said, smiling.  
"Fun though." He chuckled. He high fived Bazza who put away her Bazooka.

"Nice work." Sonic thanked, giving a thumbs up. Bazza nodded.

"You too!" She replied. Sonic then felt weird, a sensation that he had been feeling before. It originally thought nothing of it at first, but then it became repetitive to the fact that he had to fully recognize. He had been focusing on a rather more potent feeling beforehand, but this one decided it would become stronger with each passing moment. As they flew further and further from Cold Oil, Sonic's vision became brighter and brighter...until it was completely white...

* * *

Sonic opened his eyes. He found himself staring at a darkened TV, albeit sideways. Confused, he sat up and rubbed his sockets. The TV was still there and a blanket covered his legs. He noticed he was sitting on a familiar couch. This was Amy's apartment.

"What the?" He muttered. That dream was so vivid, so...real. He looked at the DVD players clock. It was getting on to five am. Huh? Sonic thought to himself. He heard footsteps coming in his general direction. It was only Amy waking up. He laid back down and pretended to sleep, with one eye peeking. Amy walked into the kitchen wearing a red robe with white fluffy trims and a pair of pink slippers. Sonic looked on as she prepared a cup of coffee and yawned. A knock on the door prompted Amy to go check. In Sonic's mind who would be knocking doors at this time of morning. He heard Amy open it, then come back with a rectangular package as well as a newspaper. Amy's eyes drooped as she took the elastic band off the the paper and spread it on the table. She then pulled the string and took off the paper wrapping the package. Sonic's eye's went wide. That box was very familiar.

"Oh good...it finally came..." She muttered to herself. She picked the box up and examined it. She opened the box and peaked inside.

"Wait, there's nothing in here!" She said. Scratching her head, she went to stomp her foot, then came to the realization that she was too tired to rampage.

"That's what you get when you try to do express delivery...dimwits...I'll call them while I'm at work..." She mumbled, succumbing to another yawn. Sonic knew that was no ordinary box.

It was the Box of Temptation.


	5. Otherwise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic meets others, old and new, on his hunt for more artifacts, but an attack from from a well known foe tests his mental stability.

_Chapter 5 – Otherwise_

He kept a close eye on her, although Sonic was confused as to how the heck the box got to her in the first place. He contemplated about his supposed dream, refusing to believe that it wasn't real. He could feel the Holoska chill down his neck and the perspiration from the heat down near the lava below. He even ached from being whacked around from the tongue of the Egg Venom. And now that the Box has come out of nowhere, Sonic began to wonder...what has he really been doing if he had been dreaming...or hallucinating?

Amy shrugged.  
"Oh well...it was probably empty in the first place..." She said, yawing again. "I'm sure Gran would know what it was."

It plagued his mind, pushing the moot point of a subject that Amy was involved. She had such coincidental connections and didn't know a thing. He quickly remembered from last night that she mentioned going to see Muriel today. He could grab her and bring forth several questions but...he was running out of excuses. There had to be some way of preventing her from going over there. But why was he so intent on doing so? She was just an old lady. The chance of Amy not caring that Sonic lied to her was...slim. It occurred to him that the pair were close. It was giving him a headache. His mental capacity told him that she would find out the truth eventually, especially at the thought at being at the end of a tongue-lashing was the least of his problems. The fact that Knuckles and Tails were still missing was still a top priority. He would do so. He needed to head back to the Garden...the Hub.

Amy ate corn flakes and read the paper, then as she was done cleaned up the plates and popped into the shower. Sonic now had time to have a look at the box. He got up and tiptoed into the kitchen...until...

"I would be careful with that if I were you Sonic..."

Sonic deflated. "Yes Shizaru..." He replied apathetically, knowing that droning voice all too well by now. He opened the box and glanced inside. Like Amy mentioned, there was nothing in there. "For something that's supposed to steal souls, it doesn't look very threatening." He complained.

"It is very dangerous in the hands of those who know how to use it." Shizaru mentioned.  
Sonic rolled his eyes.  
"Did you send this?" He asked.

Shizaru shook her head.  
"No. You did."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow, not understanding what she just said.  
"What? How could I? I would remember that." He called out.

Shizaru gave that dull yet complex stare at Sonic, almost to the point of an uncanny glare.

"And yet, dreams tell more stories than your reality ever could." She replied.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Sonic cooed. Silence.  
Typical...typical cryptic ghosts that did nothing other than supply immense amounts of raising questions. Was that to mean that that dream was real? No way. He was already conflicted by the realism of it, that it affected him so much that the pain becomes more than metaphorical. He cursed under his breath, when suddenly the silence became more deafening as he realized Amy must have finally finished in the shower. He went back to the couch and once again feigned sleep. Several moments later Amy came down all clean and neatly dressed. She grabbed the box and put it into a cardboard one, making sure it didn't get scratched badly or even break. He doubted it would, since it was made of a foreign material. Or so he thought. She grabbed a piece of paper and pen and scribbled something down, placing it on the fridge with a magnet. And with that, she headed out with suitcase and box in tow.

Sonic got up as soon as she left, and looked at the sheet of paper.

_'Dear Sonic. Feel free to use the shower and help yourself to breakfast. Just remember to clean up after yourself and lock the door on the way out. Sincerely, Amy 'heart''_

Indeed it was sincere. Her kindness and optimism was one of her best strong points. He was blessed with many friends who had reflected their own kindness. He wasn't biased, connecting to one another as equals. Although Amy had a special effect unlike the rest. She had the ability to pull people together and rally together against a common goal, make friendships with enemies and still kick butt otherwise. He noticed she had continually grown into a decent young woman, although not without her ferocious 'charm'. Still, that minor churn in his stomach swelled about, calling forth ignorance in order to cope with it.

He took a note of the use the shower quotation and decided it was best for him to have one. He went to the bathroom down the hallway. It was...nice and rose scented, scorning himself from the bad pun. Taking his gloves off and putting them on the bench, he slinked into the shower and turned the handles. The fresh drizzles of nice hot water pouring through his fur gave relief and comfort, as gushes of water dripped off his spikes. He rubbed his face and closed his eyes, half-expecting to wake up from such simple yet effective pleasures of life. Normally he'd have a soak in a nearby river or stream on his travels, but nothing beat the classical, hot shower. He let the water flowing down his arms and twirl around his legs, cleansing not only his body but his aching spirit.

It made him think of the differences between himself and everyone else. Sonic had eternal freedom, the whole world just one large plane for him to trek, edging himself to find something bold, something new and amazing, that it could still be surprising and adventurous for him. He loved it of course, you can't stop a speed demon from route sixty-six. But among him were common folk, working day to day just to make a living, having to buy luxuries or purchase their own stories of adventures beyond the home-holes. Amy made such a life as a commoner, she had her own place and was relatively stable. Tails too, was stable, willing to free-lance himself to tech companies just to get the bills paid. Knuckles...had to be stable himself. Guardian of the Master Emerald was duty-born. Anything that threatened that had to be got rid of. He'd die of his own accord if he thought it was to save that Emerald. Sonic took a big sigh and looked down at his feet and wiggled his toes.

The speed that he possessed, the gift of being able to help save the world several times from what ever was just achievements that he marked down, at times when it had gotten so quiet that he'd have to make up his own missions, challenge himself to what ever was there he could take advantage of just for fun. He often wondered if anyone else had what he had, would they do the same?

He headed out of the shower and quickly dried himself and put his gloves back on. He walked into the lounge and slapped on his shoes. His stomach grumbled, remembering Amy stated he was allowed to make his own breakfast. Opening the fridge, Sonic stared at what she had. It was alarming at the amount of fat-free, high protein food she had in there. Sonic guessed that she took her diets seriously.

He made himself a bowl of cereal and gulped it all in under a minute. In automotive ways, he cleaned up after himself and headed out. Half way down he'd forgotten to lock the door. He went back up and quickly locked it, joking to himself for being a bit careless, and bolted into the outdoors.

* * *

Again, like the attempt in his so called 'dream', he ran his way back to the Garden of Rosales. This time he wasn't going to get sidetracked. Within a few hours he was back within Holoska on the account of aerial hitchhiking, he ran to the mountain region and noticed that Cold Oil wasn't even around it. In fact, all that was there, was snow and rock. He skidded to a halt when he realized getting back in wasn't going to be easy. The mountains pretty much pierced the heavens at this point. Several times he attempted to run up them, but he was met with slips and minor avalanches.

Eventually he came to a cliff and looked up. He had a long ways to go. The cold was starting to get to Sonic who came to the obvious conclusion that he couldn't just stand there. He climbed up the mountain with notable strain, getting higher meant less pressure and more air-headedness. Not that it affected him that much, he was the sort of guy who could take a heap of punishment regarding gravitational issues. The mountain was incredibly steep, becoming almost vertical in slant. He came to another cliff-side and wiped his forehead.

"Having trouble getting up?"

Sonic's head shifted to his left. There stood another familiar woman, short, wearing the black latex/leather/spandex/whatever suit and big, black and even spiked boots that had two horizontal gray streaks. Her helmet was not unlike one of a motorcycle helmet, completely jet with horn like extensions protruding from the end of the top of her skull. She had a brown belt with twin silver blades with purple jewels adorned resting in slots on both sides and wore dark brown gloves.

"Let me guess...Agent Drainer right?" Sonic asked, noticing a theme between the three.

"Yes. From what 'Bazza' and 'Olly' told me, you've assigned us all nicknames?" She stated, her voice a simple feminine, not too strong yet not too soft tone that had a bout of unsure confidence.

Sonic scratched his head. "Uh...yeah." He muttered. He didn't know whether she was playing jokes with him or not. Or worse...her own teammates making fun of her.

Drainer nodded. "Then what would be the nickname for me?"  
Sonic blinked. She seemed stranger than Bazza. "Well, Drainer seems okay to me. But if you want I can give you one."

Drainer lifted her head. "I would be glad. Thank you." She said with such courtesy.

Sonic gathered she didn't want to be left out of the fun. Her body language suggested she was rather shy and mellow. Alongside Olly who was brave and strong, although her tendency to save people was a bit overboard...good intentions but a bit over the top, Bazza who was similar but liked to ramble on about different types of weaponry and make jokes when the situation looked thin, Drainer was...odd. Already...Besides, what nickname would go well with Drainer? Drizzle...Sucker...they...sucked. Dazzle? Nope. Leech? Perhaps. Leechy? Lich? Needly?

Drastic? Too stupid. Ducky...now that was just getting ridiculous. He remembered Knuckles mentioning something about Hooves...He saw the horns...then chuckled at the thought that Drainer could be a cow. Hoover, hoovy. Piper, Pippy? Things that were related to Drainer reminded him of drainage. He tapped his face with his index finger, contemplating that it was relatively difficult to give such a nickname. "Tell you what, hang out with me for a while and I'll give you a nickname based on your performance."

Drainer nodded. "Very well. Let us, how you say, get ready to roll and rock..."

Sonic gave a honest look. "You mean, get ready to rock and roll..."

"That too..." Drainer replied. "I was climbing this mountain to look for a hidden passageway. Normally I would able to teleport inwards, but my device only allows me to travel short distances. As well as this place having an abnormal field of energy that I'm guessing is chaotically based."

"That's cool...I guess..." Sonic said, unable to absorb all of it. Drainer turned the mountain and looked up.

"Some of our instruments are bound to fail because of it. We got in last time because of old technology that I possessed. The helicopter that we usually use is more-of-less, 'grilled'"

Sonic wanted to face-palm.  
"You mean, toasted." He corrected.

Drainer didn't budge.  
"That too." She said.

They disconnected speaking and made their way up the mountainside, moving hands and feet and making sure three points of connection were implemented at all times, preventing fatal falls. Sonic followed Drainer upwards to another large cliff area, which had a cave.

"This should lead us straight to the Garden itself." Drainer mentioned.

She seemed to absently stare at the cave for several minutes, Sonic noticing and poked her shoulder.  
"Is everything okay?" He asked.  
She shook her head. "It's nothing. We should keep moving."

Again not speaking much, they walked into the cave. Not as dark as say, the Gauntlet, as the sun crept through holes up above them, reflecting off a sequence of mirrors, which impressed Sonic. It give a bit of nostalgia for reasons he couldn't fathom.

He gathered such a technique would help people get in and out during the day. And since they were now above the clouds the moonlight could help people get in through the night. They must have been strong willed people to get in this way. Or not, considering the usage of the Portals. But still, they were very resourceful people of their time. The passage was timely, as it took them at least an hour to get through the whole cave without any dramas, or it would have, if Sonic didn't decide to ask Drainer to go faster, in which the pair peeled off, moving up and down carved stairs then finally reaching the bottom of the mountains, and the back-ways of Rosales.

"I gotta back to the Portal Hub and search for my pals. It's a long story that I don't have time to explain." Said Sonic.

Drainer nodded. "Very well. I'm looking for the next artifact. They call it, the Shield of Luck. Said to protect it's wearer from anything."

It sounded like an awesome thing to have. Using his knowledge of powerful item memes, it had to be repelled by at least one item. Some sort of fail-safe that could counteract it. He'd hoped that Eggman had not yet gotten to it or any of his cronies. He ran alongside Drainer as they came across the Portal Hub in an instant. They went inside and went down into the Portal Room. Sonic pointed towards Portal-One.

"I went through that before." He stated. "I'd grabbed Tails and Knucklehead and they didn't come through the other side."

Drainer nodded. "I see. It's possible that it had a slight malfunction."

Sonic scratched his head. "Slight?"

Drainer ignored him and checked out the Sphere of Abyss, entranced by it. Her head tilted and bowed down before it, causing confusion from Sonic's direction.  
"Are you...worshiping it?" He asked.

"This has great power. Cannot be removed until all artifacts are gathered. In fact, a lot of them don't work properly or to their fullest extent unless they are compacted with one another." She replied.

This piqued Sonic's interest. "Wait, I never heard that before."

Drainer stood back from the Sphere. "Abbadonia's Relics have their own little quirks about them. But they're only known by four people...besides Abbadonia herself."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Lemme guess, you, Bazza, Amy, and the Chief of the Ninja Clan in Sakura?"

Drainer looked down. "Oh...that makes that five then..."

Five?

The horned agent shook her head. "Never mind that...if your friends were separated by accident, they might have turned up in any of the other places that the portals go to."

"Such as?" Sonic asked.

Drainer turned to the portal next to Portal-One. "You can try Portal-Two through to Portal-Seven. I've managed to figure out where Five goes."

Somewhere Tails and/or Knuckles was, he hoped. "Where, may I ask?"

Drainer walked towards Portal-Five. "Goes to a place we call Space Greens Zone. But..."

She looked down, Sonic getting the vibes there was something wrong with it. "What ever it is, I'm sure I can handle it!" He said with a smile, a pat on the shoulder and a wink. Drainer tapped her leg frequently.  
"I've already read on the description on the wall upstairs it's called the Garden of Voi." She stated.

That's a new fact, Sonic now knowing she can understand that mumbo-jumbo. She's weird and awkward, but entirely useful by all means. She shuffled her hands then lifted her head at him.

"You have the Amberite. We must use it as you people say, "To claim on the migration..."

Sonic's face went blank as his mouth dropped with utter puzzlement, wondering where in the world she had gotten that saying from. Took him a whole minute to compare it.

"You mean, 'To get a move on...'" He said.

"That too." She responded.

Sonic brought out the Amberite and hovered it near the Sphere, which rose and cracked opened to scan it like it did before. It had a new number on it, as he went over to the keypad on Portal-Five and input the data. Portal-Five made shifting noises, wifty air again shooting out of the sides and the orange-like water pouring down from above. Sonic withdrew the Amberite and gave a notable look to Drainer, as they passed through the portal...

Walking out of the portal, Sonic quickly checked back to make sure Drainer was there. She had, coming out into the open and raising her head up high. Sonic looked up also, gazing at the beautiful night sky. "Woah, that's pretty cool." He said, smiling. He looked at Drainer, who nudged her head to her side. There was a barrage of leafy bushes to the right side of them. Drainer pushed through them as Sonic was on her six an instant. She looked back at him, and indicated with a wave of her hand to come and stand next to her.  
"Please, just look." She mentioned. Sonic shoved branches out of his way to stand next to her, then suddenly needed to gasp for air in awe of what he saw...

The two were standing at the edge of a cliff, looking at the big beautiful world that glowed before them. Sonic could see the whispering clouds that covered the emerald lands, the golden earth and the sapphire oceans, as well as the cerulean glow that was the was the protective atmosphere. It made the stars its audience, and the moon its child in tangent. The well abandoned Ark dwelt it's cherished blessing of peace, caused Sonic to wonder if Shadow or even GUN goes there anymore, although it's a hazard that they had notified it under. Sonic turned around to get a better glimpse of the astounding piece of...what ever he was on...

The land was just like the one in his dreams, minus the perfect blue skies. Endless grassy fields, hills, loops as far as the eye could see. He pushed back through the bushes and at the Portal, which was standing on top of rounded dark gray steps, still activated. Abbadonia Roses sprung from the sides, which was to be expected. But...this place was not far from his dreams. He faced Drainer, pining for an explanation.

"The Garden of Voi back in ancient times was a flourishing place. It's main trade was space material. Such as Stardust, and alien relics."

Sonic blinked. "You're saying Alien's visited here?" He said. Although, it wouldn't surprise him...it's not like he's never met them before.

"Of course. This place was a pinnacle for it. The myth goes the Emeralds came to this planet via Voi." Drainer explained.

Sonic didn't know whether to believe that myth, knowing what goes down with those sorts of things fitting that criteria. But if this place was pure business, where were the ruins for it? If Tails and/or Knuckles were here, surely they'd possibly be imprisoned or standing around somewhere. Dear Chaos, he'd prayed it was the later. They ran off together, with Drainer a bit behind. Together they passed trees, rivers, lakes, more bushes, more hills. Sonic could swear he was dreaming. If this was one of those inception like pastures, Sonic would be groaning with disbelief. Sure it was an okay movie, but he had no idea what the Lava Reef was going on. He'd go to Illumina for help, but that would be a bit of a stretch. Any psychologist would be telling him to sort things out. Sonic just needed to run. He was worrying again. He didn't need to, he needed to be focused and in charge of the situation, regardless if nothing was real, there is always something to try and help with. The Gauntlet had to be real...albeit questionable. Blossom Hazard was solid...Cold Oil, not so much. But the box was too much of a coincidence to ignore. Maybe he should see a doctor just in case. When he had time of course. No psychologists, just a normal doctor. He was terrified of needles though, so blood tests were out of the question. Get results, confirm what's wrong, solve it...life goes on and Sonic keeps going strong. Now that he thought about it, when was the last time he had a doctors visit?

As they were running, something caught Sonic's eye towards his left. A with a pink-haired girl with a strawed weaved hat with a blue flower. She also wore a long baby blue dress with white cardigan and sandles. In her grasped hands was a picnic basket. Wait, he'd seen that description before. She sat underneath a very tall maple tree, on a neat and red tartan picnic blanket. Sonic forced himself to a halt to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. Around below the hill was a moat of Abbadonia Roses, leaving entry space to walk up the hill. Sonic signaled to Drainer who complied, but didn't say a word. Sonic went over to the strange girl, who seemed to just stare into the open, legs laid out and basket in her lap. Upon further notice she was a hedgehog who looked just like Amy. Drainer stood behind Sonic, examining at what he was doing.

"Hello?" He asked, cupping his mouth.

The girl didn't respond, but she kept a soft smile on her face eye-lid a third of the way. Sonic waved his arm over her face, as such she did look at him, giving him greasys, then a sorrowful look.

"Oh I am so sorry..." She pained. Sonic grinned, a mixture of assurance and disappointment drawing in his mind.

"It's okay, you were dazed as all..." He assumed. She tilted her head and burrowed her brows.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

Sonic blinked and stood back.  
"I apologize for disturbing your...uhh...picnic..."

Sonic noticed her eyes were fixated on his lips for that moment, before looking back into his eyes.

"My picnic you say?" She mirrored. "I was waiting for my sisters..."

Sonic scratched his back. "Oh...okay..."

The girl placed the basket down beside her and stood up, dusting off her dress. "You haven't seen them have you?"  
Sonic shook his head. "Nope. What do they look like?"

Again, the girl was focused on his lips as he spoke, Sonic wondering why in the meantime. More questions arose in his mind. This was literally the girl of his dreams, not metaphorically speaking.

He became enamored by the colour, then tried to pick who it reminded him of.

"I'm worried about them. Ever since that red echidna came here, they've been asking him questions about the outside world. Well, one of them does anyway. His Highness tries to get them to do more productive...things..."

Sonic chuckled. The one surprise about Knuckles fate was that he was not being mutilated by demons, but by girls. He softened, glad to know he was okay. "Can you take me to that red echidna? I wanna speak to him myself."

The girl nodded as she squinted. "Just take him away from here please! Get him out as quick as you can!"

The girl picked up her stuff and packed it away.  
"I'll take you back to the Mansion. Drainer, you too..."

Drainer nodded, causing Sonic's head to spin in her direction.

"How do-" He started, but Drainer failed to respond, instead walking beside them. What the hell was going on? Sonic felt like he was gathering more proof that he was dreaming again. If he'd gotten up once more from Amy's couch for the millionth time, like it was Groundhog Day, he was going to scream with frustration...

He subverted his thoughts elsewhere and trailed behind the two. Sonic then put his hands behind his head as he gazed at the stars. He wondered how such a place existed, surely it would be notable in the skies at times. Again, if his theory was correct and he was in a dream, then logic wouldn't have to be applicable for this instance. He was buried underneath piles and piles of unanswerable questions. Drainer was...up to what ever. This girl...Sonic flashed back to that very dream that started it all. Then remembered...

Kikazaru. The deaf Wiser. She wore blue. Too many coincidences pointed towards it. She had to be related, just some way, some how. That was also include Amy's involvement. Amy...he felt sorry for her. The signs, the arrows...she's there at that right moment to exist at all. Yet, she was doing absolutely nothing, not baring a clue within her brain that's explaining it all to her. She's just Amy for it. Sonic's thoughts ping-ponged between whether that was a good or bad thing...

After a while they stopped in front of a large flat field. The girl reached into her picnic basket and pulled out a remote and pressed a few buttons. The ground did a small rumble as a large white mansion faded into existence. Sonic felt a shot in his mind but could not fathom as to the cause of it. Ignoring it, he followed Drainer and the girl inside the big golden doors that seemed to have familiar runes etched into it. The girl pushed the doors inward, revealing the decorated interior.

Sonic's memories kept interweaving with the Temple of the Prophets, as relics, statues showered all over the place, on the wide redwood staircase in front of him. The floorboards scratch-less, covered by burgundy Persian rugs with white shapes and lines. Typical mansion regalia. Walls covered with paintings of royal pink hedgehogs and families. A tall brunette maid stood before them.

"Hera, you didn't tell me you brought company. Greetings Agent Drainer. Here to check up on our recent discovery?" She asked. The maid was human, wearing red eye shadow blush and her brown hair reached below the ears, two small bangs over her pretty blue eyes. Her face, simple, small sharp nose and chin. She wore the memetic black and white main outfit and held her hands in front of her, bowing to to Hera.

Drainer nodded back. "Hello Lily. That recent discovery is Sonic the Hedgehog's friend."

Lily bowed again. "He's up with the Prince. Shall I escort him up there?" She said to Hera, who examined her lips.

"Do it. I wanna see where my sisters are." She replied. Drainer took a look at Sonic. "See him."

Lily walked Sonic up the stairs as Drainer and Hera disappeared around the corner. Sonic glanced at the paintings on the walls as he noticed before. All of them...pink hedgehogs. Either men or women, families that had the father at the back with the mother, and their children in front. Some paintings had four women (some had one man), with one at the back and three in front, sitting down while the back one had their hands behind them. Sonic gulped, not sure what he was getting himself into...

They'd gotten to the room that this 'Prince' was in. Lily knocked on the wooden doors.

"Who is it?" Said a male voice.

"It's Lily your highness. I have Sonic the Hedgehog here."

Silence for a moment, making Sonic feel a bit edgy.

"Let him in."

Lily opened the right door to let Sonic inside. He looked around the room. The walls were stripped with white and light pink that seemed to go on forever. A Chandelier held above high, the carpet was burgundy with blue dots, with a red rug with tendrils, that extended from a brown desk down one step. Thick burgundy curtains that had golden tugs covered what little windows were there, as a large painting of a male pink hedgehog wearing a simple golden crown sat behind him.

Looking at another male pink hedgehog that had been sitting behind the desk, this one had a stern look on his face. He had smaller quills that protruded upwards, half way covering his ears and at behind three larger quills, a diagonal left one, a straight up one and a diagonal right one. The middle thicker quill had a golden band with ruby jewel embedded in it. The left had a wider golden band while the right had two thinner bands. He had small angled bangs shooting out of the spaces between the large qills. His muzzle was srcuffed on the sides, which reminded him of Tails and was a peach colour like Amy's. His eyes were a hard emerald colour, and a tuft of white fur on his chest.

He wore black shoulder pads with golden rims and chains with emblems on them. A red cap draped from behind. Another similarity to Amy was that he wore ring bangles around his wrists. His gloved hands provided a wide golden ring on his left index finger as well as one on his right middle finger. His left thumb and his right pinky had two smaller rings. He walked out from behind his desk to reveal a black belt with a black and gold scabbard concealing a sword of sorts. His boots were also black and golden, with a minor spike-bump on the end, seemingly metallic on the outside. If that wasn't enough, the clinking chains were also gold, which seemed to top the appearance off. He really liked gold.

"Bout time you got here Sonic." Knuckles snarked.

Sonic smirked. "Good to see you're hip and healthy Knucklehead." He said in his playful joust.

He turned his attention back to the hedgehog who's look were was stern as Shadow's.

"Sonic this is Prince Hayden. He found me walking around this place after we got split up from one another." Said Knuckles.

Sonic smiled and lent out his hand.  
"Heya Hades. Nice to meet ya..."

Hayden smiled and returned with the shake.  
"The pleasure is all mine Sonic the Hedgehog. It is good to finally meet you. Have a seat."

Sonic sat down on chair next to Knuckles and explained to them what had happened when he went through the portal. He didn't speak of Cold Oil Zone due to the fact it wasn't real, but the skeptical look on the Prince's face said he knew Sonic wasn't telling the whole story. It wasn't going to harm anyone, so Sonic told him anyway, Knuckles growled in his grumpiness.

"You did all that and didn't bother to find me or Tails?" He retorted.  
Sonic sighed. The world was content on pulling out his mistakes.  
"I tried Knuckles, I really did. It's just that stuff happened that I couldn't ignore. You know how it is."

Knuckles put one leg over the other and rested his chin on his palm and feigned surprise. "Yeah yeah whatever."

Hayden placed his hands on the desk and clasped them as he leaned forward. "Knuckles and I were discussing the collection of the Artifacts."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "You too?"  
Hayden looked down and closed his eyes. "You must not know the whole story."

The Prince discussed how he was the last of the Rosoideae's Dynasty and wanted to make up for his ancestors most deadly mistake that cost their kind dearly. An event known as the Hell's Sundering tore the House apart. The myth goes that demons ravaged the land, consuming souls in their wake.

A collective few survived, fleeing through the portals and ending up in Kingdoms everywhere. Including Hayden's ancestors, but the Prophet and the Wisers...did not. They tried to fight the demons off, buying their people more time. Eventually the Garden was abandoned, no one left there to die. But no one knows what truly happened in there.

"Majority fled here, to the Space Greens Zone. It wasn't inhabited by anyone or anything, nor can it be seen from Earth. My ancestors scribes wrote what they could of what events transpired then and well after it. Some descendants tried to go back through to the Garden of Rosales, which was empty and people suspected it was haunted. But we had no choice. The King back then, pledged to discover the mystery of Hell's Sundering and his guilty soul, alongside many others, to...amend the sins of our ancestors. But that hasn't happened...and their spirits forever walk the earth, unable to find peace within themselves."

Knuckles nodded. "It's an old curse still used by tribes today. They call it Soulbound. It's to make sure promises are filled and dues are paid. Witch Doctors are employed to do it."

Sonic faced Hayden. "So that's your motivation huh?"

He had competition in the form of Eggman and Abbadonia, as well as the Femme Fatalex...seemingly.

"That's why I hired three girls to help me out." Said Hayden.

Sonic sighed. Maybe not.

"You're talking about the Femme Fatalex?" He asked. It made sense though, the girls being mercenaries. Quick, easier cash for such an adventurous task.

Hayden nodded. "The Girls found me first on their exploratory tasks. For a brief moment this place came under a satellite and caught their attention. They were sent into space to explore before the supposed invisibility returned, therefore being unable to see it."

It reminded Sonic of Little Planet, but that had an atmosphere, and was not all land and grass.

"Do you know what it's made out of?" Sonic wondered, curious.

Hayden shook his head. "No. I rather not."

The three talked for another hour, Hayden wording that within the past thirty years he's had visitors giving him supplies, namely the maid, Lily. She was lost and claimed to have no memory of events until she came across the Portal Hub and a special piece of Amberite that allowed her passage into the area. Stupilite guards witnessed her trekking about, walking in circles and having no absolute clue where she was. She was brought in and made a Maid in exchange for hospitality. She'd been serving the House since Hayden's father passed away. Since then, Lily practically raised him, and offered to bring plenty of resources himself as they had been living in primal conditions, almost

caveman like for many millenia.

"There are no longer any Stupilites here. Because the rules were not to marry them, their numbers dwindled dramatically. The last one died three years ago."

Sonic frowned. That sucked. Even though they were desperate and clinging on to old ways, populations fell and were possibly wiped out purely because of tradition. If it was from Knuckles perspective, he'd understand completely. But Sonic himself is part of the building blocks of morality. He had a solid view of right and wrong and was not going to have another of that type of mental conversation with himself. Instead, he wanted to get on to the artifacts.

"There's a descended hedgehog like myself on Earth who has been giving intel to the girls as well. They've been of much help to me and them."

Sonic suspected Muriel in this case. Who else would have that important information?

"What about the artifacts? What do they have to do with all this?" Sonic pointed out.

Hayden got off his chair and started walking. "Come this way."

Sonic and Knuckles followed Hayden into a basement chamber that had had a bench with already two artifacts that Sonic noted. The chamber was dimly lit from a single lamp, obscuring the surroundings but only lighting up the artifacts. One was the Sword of Visions, the other, the Box of Temptation. Sonic smiled as he figured it out easily, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling together. Amy, had ordered a box from somewhere under orders of her grandmother, gave it to her then gave it to the Femme Fatalex for protection and to come here. It was more simple than before. Amy was being kept out of the loop...she had hardly anything to do with it. Sonic internally sighed with relief as his worries seemed to float away, but then one stayed behind and stood in the front yard of Amy's mansion. He brushed it off as some minor relative thing. But...the fact that the Muriel was part of the House of Rosoideae and was working with both the Fatalex and Prince Hayden was slightly interesting, to say at least. Only one matter troubled him.

"What about the Prophets? And the Wisers?" Knuckles punted in suddenly. "I've seen the girls around here. One's deaf, one's blind and one's mute. What's up with that?"

Sonic had already met Hera in the fields. Flicking back, he noticed Hera was reading his lips a lot, in which he idenitfied Hera as the deaf one. Knuckles mentioned the other girls as well that had the same characteristics as Iwazaru and Mizaru.

"The Elders clung onto near total power after the Prophets disappeared if it weren't for the royals. Turns out they never trusted them or the Stupilites at all. They maintained a statue figure that was purely made for business purposes and all they cared about was making money and becoming the superior race on the planet. If it weren't for the Prophets, the Rosoideae's would have been the most loathed people in the ancient world. The Elders always held old records for meetings and all of them were forced by the King or Queen to make journals. Unbeknown to the ignorant Elders the Prophets would read the Journals, looking for unusual behavior. The Prophets would then inform the King or Queen of any wrong doing and they would enact the punishment. This system kept the Elders in place for many years."

Knuckles chuffed. "Would that be made the 'demonstration' of the Prophet's powers?"

Hayden chuckled. "Yes and no. Yes because the Prophets had limited precognition. No because they did have a portion of actual fortune telling. That power would be transferred upon the Prophets death unto the next one of their choice."

Fascinating. Sonic was not a history buff but he connected the deaths of the Prophets to Hell's Sundering.

"I get it..." Sonic said. "The last one died and couldn't transfer their powers."

"Then they were lost..." Knuckles continued.

"Indeed." Said Hayden. "The girls you see were my fathers attempts to regain the Wisers on their own. He forced Lily to take them through the Gauntlet and had our Witch Doctors do the tasks handed to them. Unfortunately, they were very young at the time, even when I was a lot younger then. Fighting the Kraken was a difficult quest, until all three claim they saw a woman in black save their lives and help defeat it. My father insisted that this...woman...had ruined the quest for all three and deemed them as failures. Lily looked after the girls and taught them how to use their other senses properly."

"How do you know if the girls have the...touch of the Wisers?" Knuckles queried.  
Hayden thumbed the box open and had a look inside. "We knew there was a chance that the process couldn't be repeated. The special gemstones that were allocated to each of them disappeared alongside the original ones. My father was a monster though...I couldn't believe what he'd said after wards..."

Sonic and Knuckles exchange looks. Hayden checked out the Sword of Visions closely and under the light. "He said...'Oh well...maybe the Elders were right after all. They're nothing but a bunch of fakes. All of them were the cause for our sins...darn us for believing it.'"

Hayden went on mentioning the final fate of the Elders themselves. After Hayden's father died, Hayden took over everything and shunned them all together, instead using the prodigal sons to better use as Council that had to take on every word Hayden said then deconstruct it. They were all old and senile and eventually died off, leaving Hayden with the Pseudo-Wisers, Lily, by Sonic's speculation Muriel and the Femme Fatalex. Lily lead the other Rosoideae's off the land back on the Earth to live new lives. Hayden didn't want them to spend the rest of their lives dwelling in silence.

"I'm hear with the girls...alone, wanting to make amends. Atone our sins. And to do that, we must collect these artifacts and solve the mystery of Hell's Sundering."

Sonic nodded. "So what happens when you get them all?"

Hayden shrugged. "Peace perhaps. Our intel speaks of their great evil, so we might destroy them...gathering them all here will keep them safe from unwarranted hands."

"Will that do though? It could be deeper than that." Knuckles suggested.

Hayden shook his head. "It's all I have. Events of Hell's Sundering are just fragments of words that I've looking over for years...and there is nothing us to conclude but these..."

Knuckles padded his lips. "Do you know who made these? If you figure that out, it'll open all kinds of doors for you."

Wow...such an intelligent presentation from thick-headed Knuckles. He does have experience with such relics after all in the presence of his treasure hunting days.

"Records show the first Prophet made them. Said that he had the first contact with a God that allowed him to produce things to test his audience."

Knuckles groaned. "Great...a God. We're really gonna find one wandering around the place just happy to tell us..." He said sarcastically.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "We can work alongside the Fatalex on this one. But first, we have to find Tails."

Hayden looked at Sonic. "Knuckles was telling me about your two-tailed friend. The Fatalex told me that Eggman has a base in the Sea Scroll Zone. "

Sonic blinked. "Sea Scroll Zone? Never heard of it."

"Ancient underwater ruins." Said Knuckles. "Rumor has it mermaids once lived there."

Sonic huffed. "So what's Tails have to do with it? I've already been to Sakura, aka Blossom Hazard Zone. Eggman had a base there."

Hayden nodded. "I know. One of the Fatalex informed me of that was where our informant was being held."

Olly.

"And you've been to Cold Oil. This is Space Greens. Which means you have several places to go then."

Hayden turned back to the artifacts. He was very serious in this matter. He had a healthy balance of belief and skepticism that Sonic admired, not to mention appearing very noble and proud, but showing guilt for what others had done, bearing the burden of his entire race. Young, but Sonic noticed in his eyes that they were worn and tired, the factors of working too hard to right wrongs. That sort of determination isn't inherited through genetics, but through good example.

"First try Sea Scroll. If not in luck there, go to either Enchanted Forest Zone or the ARK. If Eggman's searching too, he'd go there. Our race has history with all three." Hayden suggested.

Sonic crossed his arms. "Wait, you guys went to the ARK?"

Hayden continued. "Both Stupilites and Rosoideae Hedgehogs found jobs there many years ago, working for a man called Gerald Robotnik. Unfortunately they were killed by a group of humans overtaking the labs...their spirits might still wander around there, waiting for this curse to be lifted."

He became silent for a moment, leaning on the bench, his head wandering back and forth between the Sword and the Box.

"Take Drainer with you. She's a good swimmer." Said Hayden.

Sonic gulped. "What?"

Knuckles tapped Sonic's shoulder, giving a slight nod that Sonic knew it was time to leave the Prince alone.

They went back upstairs to encounter Lily.

"You leaving so soon Master Knuckles and Master Sonic?" She said sweetly.

"Yeah we gotta run...we've got things to do and we're running out of time." Sonic replied.

Sonic saw Drainer come from around the corner by herself, still clad in her suit. She glanced at Knuckles with curious head sways, until she turned to Sonic.

"You can inform me about it on the way. Let's go." She said.

* * *

 

The three sped back to the Portal, Sonic repeating Hayden's words, to which Drainer responded with subtle nods. "Sea Scroll Zone. Yes I went there briefly. It wasn't very...how you say 'clean as a trumpet...'"

Sonic's eyelids drooped from disbelief.  
"You mean, 'Clean as a whistle'" He corrected.

"That too." Said Drainer.

They'd finally approached the Portal, before the Portal itself activated, two figures poured through the gate, falling over one another as if in attempt to flee.

"We meet again, Scratch, Grounder." Sonic snorted. The chicken and the drill robots sneered at Sonic and crew.   
"We're not here to hurt you Sonic honest!" Grounder wimped like a coward, covering his face.

Scratch whacked his twin with disgust.  
"Don't be such a cry baby..." The Chickenbot chastised.

The two got themselves up as Sonic gave them looks.

"So what are you doing here?" He said with a tapping foot.

Scratched itched his head.   
"We're actually looking for Robotnik."

Grounder nodded frantically.   
"Yeah...we've been looking for him everywhere!" He said. Shooting his arms up for expressive purpose.

Knuckles punched his knuckles.   
"Are you sure? Or do I have to beat the truth out of ya?" He threatened with a snark.

Scratched waved his hands around. "N-no...we're not after you we swear!"

Two more figures plowed through the portal, Sonic recognized them as Becoe and Decoe.

Knuckles grabbed Scratch by his neck while Drainer jumped behind Grounder and threatened him with her knife.

"You swear?" Knuckles grunted.

"Please believe us! They're looking for him too!" Scratch and Grounder cried in sync.

Sonic walked over to Becoe and Decoe who were huddling each other in fear.  
"Are you?" Sonic asked, towering them. The pair nodded in sync.

"Yes we are Sonic!" Said Becoe.

"Then how do you explain the four of you here at once hm?" Questioned Drainer.

Another shumpf heard from the Portal as a red robot and a yellow robot shot through and scattered about. Sonic just chuckled. "Well, what do have here?"

**BONK!**

The heads of Cubot and Orbot bumped together by accident, causing them both to see dancing flicky's over their heads. Knuckles chucked the chicken as Drainer booted the drill-mole into the middle. Sonic pushed Becoe and Decoe in as well, with three surrounded the group of robots and gave an evil smirk.  
"Okay, give it to me straight...one of you. What are you really doing here?"

He said. They fumbled about and started over-talking one another. Sonic placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled.   
"ONE AT TIME! Or I'll have Knuckles pound you into cinderblocks!"

All six gulped at the same time.  
"Yes sir." They replied.

Sonic just face-palmed. Why Eggman bothered with repairing them or even making them was beyond him. They were seriously just...stupid wouldn't cut it. He looked at Orbot. "You're the most level headed of them all. Speak."

Orbot nodded and cleared his...throat... "Thank you Sonic." He said with a bow. He was met with grunts and groans, which were made quiet by Knuckles stare alone.

"Now...after your little escapade in destroying the base in Sakura, Eggman had assigned us on our missions to get some materials for him. Namely, Team S5 searched for Isisium, a type of rare metal only found in Holoska, or Cold Oil." Orbot explained.

Sonic looked at Scratch and Grounder, who nodded in agreement. "Go on."

Orbot clasped his hands together. "Team SX would search for Pelagicite Ore, which could be found in the Enchanted Forest. And...lastly, Team SUNCO would be trying to get scraps of Dragonite Ore, which was in the ashes of Eggmanland."

Sonic tapped his foot. "What does he need them for?"

Orbot rubbed his head. "That's the thing. He never confided in us on what they were for. Just told us to find them and return to the Sea Scroll Zone."

"Did you do it?" Asked Drainer.

"We did...we all did!" Strained Decoe.

Sonic stroked his chin. Eggman was either getting more savvy with his plans, or there was some serious trust issues. Both could be in order, knowing these robots were morons as they were. Especially when two could easily blurt out without realizing it. He'd have to make the decision...since he doubted Drainer knew them well enough and the fact that Knuckles would be gullible enough to the believe their story. Still, he went on.

"As I was saying, we got the materials we needed and headed back. We'd gotten to his head room and he wasn't there. We went to the security room and searched everywhere. Nothing on his reports mentioned he logged in or out of anywhere, might as well say he'd never been there in the first place."

"Strange..." Said Sonic.

"Indeed." Agreed Drainer. "Eggman doesn't just, vanish into narrow air."

Orbot rubbed his head. "Don't you mean, vanish into thin air?"

Drainer didn't budge. "That too."

"But because these...excuse the language...buffoons have no sense of order or the priority of searching for him faster by splitting up, we've all ended up in the same place at once."

"No doubt about that." Knuckles said with a chuckle.

Sonic contemplated. Should he help these robots? Or would he be walking into a trap? He huddled together with Drainer and Knuckles for a group meeting

"What's your opinion on this?" He asked them both.

"We should ignore them. They're Eggmans' robots. They don't deserve help." Suggested Knuckles.

"I agree with Knuckles. Do we have any reason to deliver our trust to them?" Said Drainer.

Sonic's head fell. They were both right in this instance. Although they weren't as cunning as their creator they had a substantial amount of idiots luck. Meaning they could be up to anything. Though Orbot had a point in the factor their lack of IQ would prevent them from splitting up, there was something no quite right...

"Tell you what, Drainer, take Knuckles back home. I'm sure the Master Emerald needs tending to. If Eggman is back on Earth, there's a possibility he could be aiming for it, knowing you might not be there." Said Sonic.

Knuckles grunted. "Or Rouge..."

Sonic silently chuckled. "Yeah she's a sneaky one." He snarked.

"What will you do?" Drainer asked.

Sonic thumbed his lip. He was getting to the Sea Scroll Zone one way or another. "You've been through the portals before Drainer. How did you get through?"

Drainer's head shifted.  
"Agent Mjöllnir, or Olly, has a piece of Amberite that lets her in. We all went together once and like with you and your friends it succeeded in sending each of us elsewhere." She explained.

"You went here?" Knuckles queried

Drainer nodded. "Yes I did. Bazooka...or Bazza...went to Enchanted Forest...but..."

"But what?" Sonic prompted.

Drainer didn't say anything else after that. After moments of huddling and talking, they finalized their plans. Knuckles would be heading back to Angel Island until further instructions were noted, and Sonic would be tagging along with the robots back to Sea Scroll Zone. Drainer would aid Knuckles if needed be. Sonic approached the scared bunch of robots and made his ploy.

"Thank you." Said Orbot. "I know you're our enemy but when your dear leader is out of your sights there is some concern brought on even from our most hated foe."

Sonic couldn't help but laugh at that statement. A world without Eggman would be easier, but it would be no fun at all. No new challenges to subdue.

* * *

Finally with these commands, they headed off through the Portal and back into the Hub. Drainer directed to Sonic to use the third Portal and that she would catch up with him later on. With that cleared and out of the way along with very brief goodbyes, Sonic wondered if Tails was in Sea Scroll Zone. He brought his skepticism with him and brought up his guard and looked at Orbot.

"You got them ready to go back through?" He asked him.

Orbot nodded. "I have my Amberite ready!" He exclaimed.

With a scan and a few notable noises later, they burst through into Portal Three...

* * *

They ended up in rounded tube reminded him of Aquatic Park back when Eggman had imprisoned the Wisps. Possible inspiration nonetheless. He turned to Orbot for further info.

"So what's the catch in this place?" He poked.

"I can answer that one!" announced Decoe, pushing his way through.

"Alright..." Said Sonic. "Spill."

Decoe spoke that they were in charge of Sea Scroll Zone's initial security measures as Eggman had discovered that the name Sea Scroll was brought on by the discovery of underwater ruins that once had an underwater society that was big on records and prophecies of other places, but intially they were big on the seafood trade with a type of rare exotic fish. Becoe eventually caved in and churned out that Mermaids were once here as well, blurting out the bizarre and outlandish fact that was that they believed this to be the lost city of Atlantis. Knowing Sonic's luck, this wouldn't surprise him. Decoe butted back into the conversation saying Eggman was actually looking for more scrolls that the ancient people had once written, extracting a piece of data that said one particular scroll had the locations of the other artifacts.

"So that's why he set up camp here..." Stated Sonic. He looked down the shoot of the pipes and thought of a plan.

"What's his set up here? A crudload of booby-traps for me yet easy use for himself?" He asked. Security preventative measure obviously. Pure...Eggman...Standard. Sonic couldn't settle for anything less.

"Dr. Eggman has set up most of his bases with anti-Hedgehog weaponry...plus a few more organics." Said Decoe.

"Yeah no-hedgehog zones!" Cried Grounder.

"We've been busy making every zone hedgehog-proof." Scratch said proudly.

Sonic huffed. "Well, where would I start looking for him? In his chamber?"

However Sonic had other priorities. He'd have to start searching for Tails before looking for Eggman. He turned around to see the other robots were no longer there, Sonic suspecting some other force of work at place. He carried on and fled down into the well-rounded an supported pipes of the Sea Scroll Zone.

He smashed more Eggman Robots like he had done before, seeing the sights as he went. He compared it so much to Aquatic Park, aesthetic Chun-Nan like designs of faded red and mystical blues. It's almost like he was Chun-Nan, then realized he probably was. A combination of pipes and shrines, Eggman actually bothering to construct Robots with samurai swords and build and the like. He was sure good with his theming. Sometimes he'd come across open spaces up on land which were contained massive missile launchers, guarded by larger Badniks. With his own homing missiles he jumped around the white, concrete square base that contained a gray narrowing from the top to the bottom which seemed to point upwards and swirl around continuously. After the swarm of those badniks were destroyed, a blue bulgy robot came out of nowhere. It had a red bandanna around it's head and an etched on karate garb with what seemed to be red pads on its forelimbs. Sonic had to use strategy to eliminate. Dodging it a few times, a learned how it moved and reacted with every move and swack. He noticed the pads on its arms would turn green sometimes, Sonic's belief meant it was recharging a barrier. Taking note, Sonic immediately rammed into it, blowing the arm off. Sonic, in proof of success, smiled.

"Aww somebody lost an arm. Don't worry, you gonna completely be 'armless...when I'm through with you..." He taunted.

Sonic weaved and dodged the lone arm of the robot, waiting for the pad to turn green once more. When it did, Sonic quickly blew it off, then spin balled while in mid air, then came down to smash the head to bits. Then Sonic stole the bandanna from it, and wrapped it around his own head for fun, then through jabs and side-punches. He was digging the Kung-Fu. He then put the bandanna in his own little pocket within his fur. "Maybe later..." He said to himself, laughing. He looked up at the missile launcher. Eggman might be into tradition, but sometimes you have to break it. Like what Sonic did...literally.

He searched around and eventually found the self-destruct button. Really Eggman...original. Casually pressing the button, he watched as the launcher collapsed on itself. Happy with it's destruction, he went on to progress through the Zone itself. Trespassing waterfalls, climbing walls and the like. It seemed to go on forever. Not that there was any problem with that. Of course not. It was what he did for a living. He passed more robots, using his homing attack to blow them to smithereens. Then he came across it...

A lake of water. Attempting to let speed guide him across, reality bit him as he bumped into a mirror, forcing him downwards into the lake itself. It wasn't too bad, bits of coral here and there, mechanical sharks tried to bombard him as he descended, Sonic barely dodging due to the water slowing him down dramatically. He found another piping and had to walk his way through. Then eventually became desperate for air and found a supply of bubbles, jumping up to get the special air bubble just in time, as his heart pounded, creating a musical rhythm that Sonic swore he had heard before. He walked onwards, dodging more sharks and spiked fish that had a taste of pin-cushioned animals. Sonic simply checked his timing underwater and dodged. Within a minute or so, he eventually gained enough momentum to keep charging onwards. He managed to slow jump his way blocks to grasp himself on solid surface once more. His head lifted up to see a several and oddly piled rounded blocks that got smaller as it got higher but the bottom one was a large was a warehouse. The sliding doors were oil-stained and had black and yellow stripes on surrounding it.

Entering it, he discovered a hollow room that was dripping with a mixture of chemicals and oils from a loose screw on the roof. The walls were stained but it was practically empty except for one security camera and a lone, hanging light, brightening up the black rubber floors. He was beginning to feel a bit edgy about this. He saw a door to his left and went through it, only to find the same thing...empty...lone light and camera. As well as another sliding door in front of him. Passing through that, again. Empty...lone light and camera. A door to his right prompted him to get passed. Suddenly several of the jolly orange badniks fell from above holding shields and lances. Sonic avoided them all by using a spin-dash to ricochet off the walls and pinball his way to their weak spots, destroying them one by one. The middle of the floor suddenly moved and slide away, revealing a plate of blue light in the middle. Sonic's hands fell to his hips as he looked around. Another camera kept a close eye on him.

He walked to the plate and stood still, as his body faded away and ended up elsewhere.

"Welcome Warthog!"

Eggman. He could hear him over speakers surrounding the dully lit room with a camera on each wall. The roof was high and clad with darkened pipes, water dripping from above creating puddles.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I've already finished over there in Sea Scroll. I used my robots to slow you down and now I'm one step ahead of you. I've always been." He gloated. Sonic's lip twitched.

"Tell me where Tails is right now!" Sonic demanded.

All he got in response was Eggman's distinctive laugh.

"WHERE IS HE?" Sonic roared, becoming slightly more agitated.

"All in good time Sonic. All I want you to do now is test a creation of mine! I call it, Transfusion." He pertained.

Sonic groaned at the non-existing word. He should have expected a trap. But he could do this alone. He always could. Part of the wall in front of him split in two and slid in the opposite directions, revealing a robot he's seen many times before as it walked...or rolled it's way towards Sonic, who smirked and crossed his arms.

"Ah hey Metal! See you got some dull upgrades...I guess Eggman was running out of spare parts." He snarked.

Metal Sonic did indeed look different. His legs were replaced by tank-like treads and grew and extra pair of arms with drills instead of hands. He also had another set of long, white arms extended from his pair, with a red chickens waddle on top of his head. Sonic's face contorted, thinking what the heck did Metal do to himself? No matter, his defeat is inevitable in Sonic's eyes. The Blue Blue stood back slightly, placing himself into an almost lunging position, ready to strike at any given moment. He lowered his head slightly, his eyes glaring, with bout of a mischievous and cocky smirk.

Metal was the first to strike, charging himself forward, limbs reaching outwards. Sonic simply somersaulted of the way and got behind it, and literally kicked it's butt.

"Man that was so easy!" Sonic said, feigning complaint through sarcasm.

Metal became more agitated and quickly spun around. He charged at the walls, which suddenly became rounded, the rest of them including the roof and the floor forming a sphere. Metal rolled around and used his arms to take swing at Sonic repeatedly, who taunted with raspberries and cheek taps. MS tried to do figure eights, whilst missiles fired out of nearly every orifice. Within his grace, Sonic successfully dodged some, jumped on others and even caught one, flinging it back to him. MS raised his arms to protect himself as a green bubble protected him from projectile harm. Sonic quickly put his two feet back on the ground and snarled.

"Is that all you got?" He taunted. MS shifted its limbs about slightly as Sonic took one heck of death glare, MS's eye's filling with fiery rage. His drill arms extended outwards, as a larger drill sprung out from his chest. Shoving the smaller drills into the ground, MS lifted up and tilted towards, the bigger drill boring into the rubber and going into the underground. Sonic's only concern was more leakage and a worry that the room could possibly flood. He focused on his hearing and the vibrations underneath his feet to detect where Metal could possibly shoot up from. Sonic spun around, hearing rumbles from the wall behind him. In a split second Metal shot out with the all drills aimed at him but Sonic managed to avoid the attack by ducking, Metal landing behind him. Again MS tried to use the missile but like before Sonic dodged and weaved to avoid them. He couldn't throw them at MS himself, knowing the force field that he had, but had a weak spot at the back. He attempted to grab another rocket missile, snatching a white and red one and throwing into Metal's back. MS...was not amused. He quickly drilled back underground as Sonic kept a close ear and feet. His experience in the Gauntlet helped him a lot, now that he was only grateful for it. A bit of dust fell on his nose as he looked up, the roof rumbling. Sonic backed himself up against the wall as Metal charged through from above, a gush of water pouring through. Damn, he was playing with his lack of ability to swim. MS's laugh echoed it's hollowed yet grainy way, chilling and dastardly.

Sonic stood well way from the burst, as the water spilled into the holes. He had some time.

MS rolled himself across the room in another figure eight fashion, Sonic leaping out of the way then spinballing into it's back as soon MS' own was turned. MS screeched, the Kimmibots were worse in Sonic's opinion, but nonetheless it was still pretty terrifying. However, it obviously didn't affect Sonic at all. The screech was in the form of a laughing pattern that Sonic couldn't identify. A sequence of uneven rhythms disturbed him. He didn't care...he just wanted to find Tails...

The fight repeated itself, before Sonic grew tired of playing games and absolutely smashed Metal to bits as Sonic spun into a spin-dash and rammed into MS' back, the screeching reoccuring. Sonic saw static and forks of electrical discharge firing off MS' body. He grinned and pulled Metal up from the ground, his limbs lifeless and the only thing giving off any signs was his eyes. Sonic's own narrowed down as he held MS by his neck.

"Where is Tails?" He barked.

Metal Sonic gave off his evil laugh.  
"I'm sorry, but your prince is another castle." He mocked.

Sonic couldn't take it and slammed Meta's head into ground and dug his heel into his face, the light in MS's eyes finally fading. Sonic dusted his hands and watched as a screen with Eggman's face came down from above.

"Well done little warthog...I would like to thank you for giving me more time. I'm sorry about your friend Tails...he's probably elsewhere DYING because you're wasting precious days, hours or even minutes...toodle-o!" Laughed Eggman, as the screen shot up, then shot down again.

"Oh...I forgot to tell you!" He said with over-dramatic tones.  
"Metal was the fail-safe for a particular new gas I wanted to try. Destroying him immediately shuts down the air conditioning and releases a a potent...gas into the air. Have fun dreaming!"

Sonic froze as soon as the screen disappeared. He could smell a scent that he could have sworn he had smelled before. A blue gas gently poured out from above and within the holes that Metal had created. The water still gushed about, the gases turning the water darker than usual. Sonic approached the leak in the middle of the room as it warped. Two sloppy arms appeared from the almost cylinder like waterfall, as green eyes glared at him. Sonic tilted his head in spite of this strange happening. Out burst Abbadonia, wings spread to show hostility. Sonic's eyes widened.

"There's no where to run Sonic..." Her multilayered voice said. Sonic glared. He didn't say anything as he wanted to get the heck of there. He looked at his feet as the navy-coloured water now reached above his knees. Crud, this place was now starting to fill with water...or what ever it was. He frantically searched around for a door, when a purple wisp like light floated from nowhere and somehow warped in a door on a nearby wall and opened it. Sonic looked at it as it disappeared. No time for contemplating what the heck it was, he needed to get out of there. The room rumble and churned as Sonic ran out and headed towards the portal. But the new room was pitch black and filled with endless spiral stairs. Who cares? JUST RUN!

Sonic sprinted as fast as he could, his heart beating faster. Wails and cries for help filled his ear drums so much he couldn't stand it. Keep running...and running...and running.

Theses stairs would not end at all. Black, tiled stairs that kept going down further and further down into utmost darkness. He feared he wasn't getting anywhere and stopped to turn around.

"Don't stop Sonic."

Sonic blinked.  
"Amy?"

She was pale as a ghost, blood running from her eyes, nose, ears and mouth. He could see a patch of blood on her usually pretty dress and drips of it coming from underneath it, streaming from her legs.

Sonic tried resting his hands on her shoulders but she stood back. His mind went back and forth on what he had to do, but it was screwing with him. Badly.

"Let's get out here! I...I don't know how you got here, I don't care about that at the moment. I want to get you some help. Go to the hospital...just take my hand!" Sonic said, a crying squeak ripe within his words.

Amy shook her head. "No..." She said, coughing. "It's too late for me. You have a chance to go back if you just keep running."

More wails forced Sonic to cover his ears.

"What's the point? I'm not going anywhere." He cried out.

"You never are." Replied Amy. "But if we still hold on to the faith that you will reach that end goal."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Sonic demanded. This was getting weirder and more hectic by the second.

"The end will wake you up Sonic...that big, rotating ring...let's hope it brings you a...free life..."

Sonic ignored the nonsense and tried to grab her hand, only for her to turn blood red and splatter about into nothing. Sonic shook his head and screamed. The only thing he could do was take her advice and keep running...because it's all he can do. Shutting that scene out of his mind, he turned back around, a contraption down in front of him appearing. It lead down to a narrow path that followed on through into the mists of the shadows. Each side contained a red box that held what looked like poles with blue balls at the end of it like a strange turn-style of sorts. Taking a deep breath, he went through them, a bell sound ringing in his ears. He bolted...

The wails...the screeches...bits of the shadows turned into fiery red bloodshot eyes that followed Sonic as he had to sidestep several times to avoid falling down into nothing. Loops followed as well as weirder gray and black square patterned moebius strips. He skidded to a halt as a yellow fox stood at the end. His two tails flailed about, but he himself stood there with a dull expression on his face.

"Don't think for a second Sonic that I actually enjoy playing second fiddle."

Suddenly the area warped into a darkened neighbourhood that Sonic immediately recognized.

His internal neighbourhood. Amy's Mansion stood up top of a hill at the end of the street, with cottages and houses aligning each side of what the sign said was ''Morpheus Street."

"I don't like this house. It's all riddled with weeds and the grass hasn't been mowed. You're my landlord Sonic, shouldn't you be tending to this?" Asked Tails.

Sonic looked at the cottage itself. Tails was right. It looked like it hadn't been tended to in years. Overgrown trees and grass and all kinds of muck, the actual cottage looked like it could fall apart any day now. But..this couldn't be the way Sonic imagined it to be. He liked Tails. He was one of his closest friends and enjoyed hanging with him. So...why? Of all people, was Tail's one the least treasured? He had to change this. He needed to.

"Tails I promise you, I will get to know you better..." Sonic assured.

Tails expression change to scorned as his eyes pierced through Sonic, bringing surprise and fear.

"Are you trying to convince Tails or are you trying to convince yourself?" Said a deep voice.

Sonic shifted around.

"Knuckles!" Sonic cried.

Knuckles swung his arms about, giving them a slight stretch, Sonic then copped a face full of fist, sending him flying past . He opened his eyes to see that Tails was gone.

"Look Knuckles, it's not that bad I swear!" Sonic pleaded, forcing himself off the ground.

"Not that bad? I have to guard an Emerald for eternity? And you're okay with that?" Knuckles scolded.

Sonic knew that wasn't true. Knuckles knew he had a duty. Sonic wished that Knuckles would take it a little less seriously. Especially when Shade was in the picture now. With her help, they could do part time. He'd made that suggestion before and Knuckles even said he would think about it.

Sonic stood his ground. But he'd never been so scared, he had tried so hard not to show it. He didn't fear his enemies but...he was now afraid of his friends. Groups of friends, rivals and acquaintances, both Mobian and human came out of their houses and surrounding Sonic. They were all there...Rouge...Shadow...Omega...Jet...Wave...Storm...Shade...Blaze...Silver...Charmy...Espio...Vector... and lots more...even Chip and Cream. He watched as Cream walked up to him with Cheese in her arms. Sonic shook his head with disbelief, muttering the word 'no' under his breath over and over again. Cream glared at him.

"You're always late. Sometimes you don't even show up at all! You care more about yourself then you do about us!" She cried. Hearing her say that almost broke Sonic's heart. But...it wasn't her. It was himself. His own thoughts on how people thought about him. No...it can't be. There was no justification or even any signs that they would even think that. Sonic stood back a few steps, before being mobbed by friends, looking up to see a silhouette of a winged figure, hearing devilish cackles that echoed across his thoughts. It became a faceless and colourless mob, bearing down and almost stealing his breaths.

With what strength he could muster, he burst out of the swarm and onto a more spacious area. He turned his head around to see Abbadonia's Demons chasing after him. But where could he run to? He couldn't run forever. How far could he go before something twisted and sorrowful smothered him to death. He couldn't bring on swiss-army tears, they would do no good. He would expect to be mocked.

But where could he run to?

He looked upwards at the Mansion on the hill. Amy was not in that crowd of people. She was helping him...telling him to keep running...to find that goal ring...to find...a free life. He noticed a golden object spinning about at the pink doors and spear-headed his way towards it. He prayed that she was right. He prayed so damned hard for it to get him out of here. He walked through it, but nothing happened except for the ring fading away and few strange jingle sounds. Looking behind him, he saw more of the demons crawling towards him. He faced the door and starting banging like crazy.

"For goodness sake Amy open the door!"

No answer. He whacked his fists on it several times more.

" **PLEASE AMY! OPEN UP!** "

Again no answer. Tears ran down his face as his face and hands rubbed against it, sliding downwards before falling to his knees. He scratched the doors with his nails and pleaded a final time.

" _Please...I'm desperate..._ " He whimpered.

He turned around and laid down against the doors and waited for fate to take him away. He was going to die here...because he thought Amy didn't love him enough anymore. His body drooped over as his eyes closed, all strength gone and tears running down his face.

" _I'm sorry..._ "

-  
_Whereas while the hope is gone, when you think the light has faded, there's still an Angel waiting for you. A broken Angel but still an Angel. . I'm not an Angel myself...just someone else who can become as completely lost in their dreams as you are...and can guide you to freedom. Three ways. Lucid...Non-Lucid...Nightmare. All constructed in nonsensical and incoherent madness. But that is who we are. The Entropy of your mind...the further it goes...more is wasted and quality decomposes. No one knows who you are anymore, not even yourself. We can't stop it...but we can help prevent. The lower layers become more chaotic as you might see._  
_Work your way to to the first floor...the primary layer and seek me out_  
-

"Sonic?"

A flash of nearly blinding light overcame Sonic as he opened his eyes. He could barely see, but a figure of red and pink that he could only guess was looming over him. His vision was blurred, but he gathered that he was laying down and possibly staring at a roof. He was drifting in and out of consciousness and felt someone picking him and bringing into somewhere...nice and warm. Scented beautifully. He wasn't sure what to feel, and frankly, he didn't care.

He surely had to be dead.

"Everything's going to be alright..."


	6. Savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After exposure to the mysterious gas, Sonic struggles to fight his mental demons, as well as the physical ones...

 

The eternal whiteness that he embraced, a formless type of escapism that lifted the heartbeats. A single transgression elevates fear, a possible side-effect of leaping into the unknown. Pushed, but not pressured, comes the natural occurrence of archetypal obfuscation, which can cause a lapse in better judgment. Unbeknownst to himself, his mental self was in a senses limbo of sorts, unable to to put his two feet on steady grounds. Wobbly but still, shaky but hardened, sweating but cooled...with the occasional quiver. He laid his weary head on something...soft and warm. His brain warped but not beyond repair as it tried to cool down and inhale his surroundings. But a more pleasant scent, a scent he clung on to and the gentle touches that stroked his head, brought light back into his life. Sanity and seclusion. A breath...one that reached out, soothed but not unscathed, with withered sighs and shuttered gasps, sudden inhales and slowing exhales...reality was fried.

His eyelids struggled to stay open. He needed to stay awake. A hand felt a comforting blanket, knocking onto something more solid. His eyes were sore and cheeks red raw from tears. There were moments where a memory would come back to haunt him, but a feminine hush and his head cuddled and rocked would him back to this happy place. The first person he thought of was his mother. Was this...another...past instance of recollection? No...he wanted to go back to where it was safe and warm. He shot up from where he was and rubbed his eyes to look around. A small room lit up like a sunset from a desk lamp, curtains drawn, walls light pink with red rose patterns, lace blankets on a queen sized bed. He knew someone was behind him and slowly turned his head around, only then to find himself unable to speak. Riddled with such shock and confusion his mouth dropped at the visionary of the one who took him away from the world of hurt.

The girl he pleaded to...she'd...saved him...enough begging allowed his escape into warmer world of fire place flavor and bed time story toned dreams. He started gasping for air as he held his head. Her gentle hands held onto his head as she pressed her tender lips upon his forehead.

"Settle down silly boy..." Said that sweet, honest voice that he had begun to love hearing. His bottom lip quivered as more tears ran down his face. This...had to be another sweet, merciful dream. He buried his head into her chest as she held him close and rocked him back and forth. Her light pink silky pajamas felt...good. A hand...fell on her shoulder as he looked at the lamp. The only bright corner in her mansion...Her blessed palm and fingers rubbed up and down his back, his breath slowing and finally calming, with several sniffs in between. No words could describe this...feeling, only to look upon her to see her face. She too, had been crying...he was being so selfish again as he scrunched his fist in anger with himself.

"Shh...Sonic...Amy's here."

Amy. Right now her very presence churned something so deep inside, that it flared up, causing him pain. He was so vulnerable...messed up. He would give anything to say that this wasn't a dream. He was hoping damn hard. He needed this...

But her heartbeat was settled, bequeathing a touch of self-assurance to his mangled spirit.

He wanted to open his mouth and speak words, but his throat was clogging up with anxiety. A hand...patted down his quills and her own mouth gave a faint smile that could break into a sobfest at any given moment. He subconsciously wiped a falling tear from her face with his index finger. Sonic could feel her warm breath on his face and felt compelled to be in it. A zest of passion throbbing up in his heart, but was extremely reluctant to act on it, feeling it would inappropriate between friends. Good friends...

For all the times that Sonic saved her life, it was nothing compared to when she'd saved his. He was the strong, honorable hero with the side-order of saving and she WAS...major emphasis on was...the occasional main source of Distressed Damsel Syndrome. Lately she was trying to prove herself, that she was no mere weakling. She could be...no...she was as strong as Rouge or Blaze. A strong and wild woman, who was also caring. However her rage could promote her title to Queen of the Wind, leading Sonic to be her Knight of the Wind.

The similarities further beckoned him. They are both such a destructive force in and around itself.

The ability to blast through life. He'd been her inspiration ever since they met on Little Planet.

Amy wanted to be a hero. At least, that's what Sonic believed. What she wanted and what she needed were two completely different things. Both held a compassion to help people, but Sonic thought that her chasing him to marry or date her was part of some monkey-see, monkey-do crud that he wondered if the obsession would ever stop. It didn't bother him too much, only times when he thought it wasn't necessary. Especially the parts where it got her kidnapped. Stupid, naïve behaviour. Sonic looked over that. There was a better part to her that not everyone saw. If the heroes self-claimed girlfriend wasn't busy being in the grasps of some evil-doer, she would be smashing what ever she saw to find him and cling on to him like mother and child.

The odd day came about, when it became apparent that she was covering up for so much more. Were these pleas fronts? Legitimate? What does the heart of Amy Rose really want in life?

She would have her own answer before him. Sonic had no idea what he wanted. He dwelled on his surfaced feelings of a devil-may-care attitude and did what ever. Being snarky, sarcastic to those who dared threatened the safety of innocents. All in a days work. Striving for a better world was a good excuse, but there had to be something more to his life than just to run.

No...running was fine. Nothing wrong with it. If the world needed him, he'd comply. So what was with this one girl in all the world?

He lowered his head and sat back onto his knees, looking down. Amy had her legs outwards, toes wiggling in lacy socks with red ribbons.

"You wanna talk through what happened?" She asked.

His head was a bit groggy as he forced himself to stay awake at all costs. Why couldn't he just stay in this warmth? He didn't want to speak about it. Not to a shrink, not to anyone. Amy...maybe. But he wasn't in the mood, which in itself was difficult to describe. He gave a simple shake of his head, before it decided to begin drooping, eventually lifting his head up.

"What...time is it?" He ask drearily, his vision still hazy.

Amy checked her bedside tables digital alarm clock.  
"It's around Eight PM. You've been out for quite a while." She confirmed.

He gave a slight nose forced chuckle, glad it wasn't Five AM. Again. Her voice was comforting, his ears tuned into her every word. That burn in his stomach flared up more. He took it for hunger pains.

"Can I get something to eat first?" He asked, his voice like a child's and crackling.

Amy only smiled and held onto his hands in her palm, placing reassurance with stroking them with her thumbs. "Of course you can. What ever you want I'll make 'em."

To think hurt his brain more and into a status of indecisiveness.

"Food will do..." He snarked.

Amy smiled.  
"I'll make you your favourites!" She said as she slid off the bed and into her fluffy pair of slippers.

Sonic could have collapsed right there, but what will he had left kept him. Instead his head fell fast, looking downwards, thinking to himself what was wrong with him? Whatever Eggman had did, he did it well...too well that Sonic couldn't think straight. For all he knew he was already dead and where ever reality was it definitely wasn't here.

He heard a door knock in the distance. If this was a doctor, Sonic could just get up and leave. Amy opened the door and a deeper, grunt-filled voice tinged Sonic's memory.

"I heard he was here." It said.

"Did you see him running?" Asked Amy.

"No. GUN got reports of sighting him appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a street. The new Chaos Energy Scanners detected a small amount of Chaotical Energy, but not enough to say it came from an Emerald. Sources say he headed in this direction. Since I knew your place was around, I figured he would have come to you."

* * *

Amy scratched her head. "So does GUN want a word?" She asked

Before her stood a black and red hedgehog, definitely well known amongst the local populace. His face was almost in a state of perpetual frowning as his red eyes almost pierced through everything it touched. However his eyes did not see through Amy...they were coddling her own.

"They just want a statement. You know the usual protocols..." He answered.

Amy turned back to the stove as she was preparing some chilli dogs and leaned on the bench. He walked over and rested his hands on her shoulders, giving some rather intimate comfort.

"I know he's here. I just want a word." He stated.

Amy frowned and sighed. "He's in my room Shadow." She muttered softly.

Shadow nodded and gave a small smirk. "Thanks."

Amy said nothing as she continued on cooking, shoulders hunched up.

Sonic's eyes widened as she mentioned Shadow's name. As soon as Amy had revealed it, Shadow came strolling down and stood in the doorway. Sonic in the meanwhile looked in a weaker position as he struggled to make proper eye contact. Shadow walked over to the side of the bed and stared straight down.

"Here to see me lookin' pathetic?" Sonic joked.

Shadow shook his head. "GUN just wants to know where you've been that's all...you kno-"

"Protocol...I get it..." Sonic moaned. Shadow's face scrunched as Sonic swayed around, almost limp and lifeless. The wobbliness intrigued Shadow.

"So tell me..."

Sonic forced his head to shoot up in order to get a look at the black hedgehog. What should he say? A lie or the truth...either didn't matter...he didn't want people on his back at this moment.

"Your symptoms look familiar. I've seen them in a variety of victims who have brought to hospitals with doctors claiming that they could give a definite diagnosis." Said Shadow.

Sonic wobbled his head above, barely keeping his eyes open. "Really? Where?"

Shadow snapped a finger and crossed his arms as he lit up.  
"You were under the effects of hallucinogen weren't you?" He asked.

Sonic knew Shadow would get the idea eventually. Lucky hedgehog was probably immune to most of this. "Maybe...who wants to know?"

Shadow closed his eyes, then looked at Amy's lamp as he reopened them.

"I came because this has happened before. With other people in places. It's a type of psychological warfare against fair-minded citizens of the planet. We've been trying to hunt down the culprits for quite some time."

Eggman. Last moment he remembered before it went all dark was that snivelish laugh of the doctor.

He did mention that he wanted to try a new gas...

"Eggman..." Sonic creaked out. "Released...Eggman released it."

Shadow garnered a better look at him. His eyes were bloodshot, his temperature soaring as he rested his hand on Sonic's forehead. Shadow grabbed his shoulders and forced to sit him up properly as he was examining him.

"GUN suspected Eggman. But you have it far worse than any of the others. Did you experience severe and violent disillusionment?" He asked.

Sonic sat at the end of the bed, barely able to grasp the sides with what little strength he had.

"Yes..." Sonic answered truthfully. Actually, truth was what he really needed at the moment, now that he looked at it...

Shadow nodded. "I see...this is not half-bad information. Don't worry Sonic, we'll get to the bottom of this."

* * *

Amy walked back into the room, full of her white, lacy apron on top of her pajamas, with a plate of cooked chilli dogs. Sonic sniffed them, making him smile and lighten up a little. He always looked forward to chilli dogs, no matter how weak he was.

"How is he?" Asked Amy.

"I need some blood samples. The chemical might still be in his system. I'll order an Agent to extract it and examine it."

Amy nodded. "Okay good. Is there anything we can do to make Sonic feel better?"

Shadow looked back at the blue hedgehog as he fought to keep his head up. "Rest. No doubt food should perk him up, but other than that, our doctors would recommend rest." Shadow chuckled.

"But once the Agent is done, she should be able to get rid of the chemical completely. She's been doing it for a while now."

Amy smiled. "Great. Then we can track down whomever did this to him!" She said with determination.

Sonic's vision went blurry for a few seconds, but all he saw was Shadow leaning over to Amy for some reason, then leaning back as soon as his sight came back and walked away.

Amy sat down next to Sonic and put the plate on the bed. Sonic grabbed one and took one bite, before succumbing to a grin, which made Amy happy.

"I'm glad you're feeling a bit better Sonic." She commented.

"As...do I..." Sonic weakly responded.

* * *

After he'd finished eating, he decided to fall asleep. Hopefully his own dreams would make him feel a lot better. Indeed they did...sort of.

He quickly opened his eyes and immediately assumed he was still asleep, gathering that he was up and raring to go, the fire streaming through his veins, ordering for the usual sprints. Getting off the bed, he shrugged. Might as well. Running in a dream was just as good as running in real life. He walked down the hallway with a smile on his face, before hearing giggles and stopping in his tracks. It might have been Amy, but then he heard moans and tiny wet noises alongside shafted grunts.

Sonic tip-toed down and the noises got louder as he got closer. They were coming from the lounge room. He went on his knees and crawled, stopping as soon as he had gotten beside a cabinet. He lowered his head as two figures rolled about under sheets through the legs of a drawer.

"How about...THIS!"

That was Shadow's voice, laughter ensuing in response. "Shhh...you'll wake him up!" He said with a snort.

Sonic's eyes widened at the prospect of Shadow frolicking with Amy. Shadow? Of all people? He had not expected this...not at all. Although it would explain why Amy's first instinct when he came back from Muriel's the other day was not to glomp him, as she appeared rather serene and calm.

She was dating Shadow.

Why couldn't he think of this before? He was just laying down with her not long ago!

Again...it wouldn't be out of reach for her, using that same prospect as she would do with anyone else in that situation. Cold, alone and confused, taking a sick person under her wing and giving them shelter wasn't much of a stretch. But the fact that Shadow, a normally stoic and emotionless guy was having fun with a girl who acted like she could chase Sonic into the depths of hell if she could. There had to be more to this...there just had to be.

The fact that it actually annoyed Sonic concerned himself. Why should he care if Amy found happiness in the arms of another man? Seeing the way the pair enjoy each others company and are not afraid to be...well...'cuddling' so to speak. To Sonic's logic it made them improve their attitudes and personalities immensely. Down to it, adding to the logic that it is not his business shouldn't be bothering him. He should be glad. He should be smiling and welcoming the relationship with open arms and hoping something good might come out of it, such as the changed attitudes themselves.

Make Amy more mellow and Shadow less serious. Opposites attract...so many different reasons why this would be perfect...yet so many different reasons why this would not.

So why...why was it disturbing him so much that it wrenched his heart to unbearable levels?

He watched as Shadow kissed Amy's neck as Amy kicked about in a playful fuss.

"That tickles!" She giggled.

She rolled him over on to his back with force, with an evil snarl on her face.

"You're going down boy!" She snarked.

Shadow laughed. "I'd like to see you try." He dared.

Amy pressed her lips down hard on Shadow. Sonic winced. He looked down as something wet seeped passed his fingers and knees.

Blood.

He stood up and looked behind him. It was that pale, deathly looking Amy that he had seen before as blood poured from under dress like it did before. She didn't say a word, only giving a nod towards Amy and Shadow. He looked at them, as more blood riddled along, leaking into the lounge.

But Amy and Shadow were too far into themselves to notice the blood building around them. Sonic hesitated briefly, believing this to be another dream. He wanted to scream and warn the pair that the apartment was going to be filled. What was the point? Since it was just a dream?

He gave the other Amy another look. She glared at him, before the purple wisp-light reappeared.

_The non-lucidity gives less control to the dreamer and more control to his subconscious. If their warrant of fear rises, the environment escalates to shape that fear. What is real is discarded and the only way to escape the inescapable is to force yourself to become so scared, the dream is carved into the most dangerous yet unbelievable vision that when it peaks, you will be free._

The purple wisp floated towards the door to Amy's room.

_I can show you the door, but you are the one who must walk through it._

Sonic looked down at the blood, then back at the bleeding Amy. So pale, so lifeless. The red substance ran down from her eyes, nose, ears and mouth as she tilted her head to look at him with curiosity that sent shivers down Sonic's spin.

"That is right..." She whispered, her voice so hoarse Sonic could hardly hear her.

He scrunched and unscrunched his fist repeatedly. He could not control...that was what he knew well. Knowledge of working around that control was easy...either destroy the problem or the controller. Both would be suffice. The problem was that there was nothing to destroy...and nothing that was controlling it. Only his subconscious.

So boosting his fears was the only way out. Alrighty then...facing back at the deathly Amy, he focused his thoughts towards her, trying to get her to do an outrageous action. Alas, it did not work. Not to her anyway.

She only pointed towards where Amy and Shadow were.

_Imagine the worst thing that could happen_

He was disgusted at himself for doing this, a hatred so strong his subconscious forged explosion on the outside as he dug his squeezed and shook his head so tightly with rage.

_Keep going..._

He turned his attention back to Amy and Shadow who weren't even bothering to do anything. They were simple figments of his imagination. None of this made sense to him. He wanted to run so bad.

He gasped at an idea that he smacked himself for. But knew he had to do it anyway. It was a idea that was especially terrible and meaningless but it could work. He was ashamed that he would do it. For one so young, bold, innocent, cunning, fearless, brave...chaste. Crud. That would be used as a last resort, so he decided and kept that aside as another idea floated to his head. Yes...he would feel bad, but not as bad as he would have been if he would have done the intial one. Geez...

Sonic slapped himself again and went to lay down in the massive pool of blood, instigating negative, violent thoughts as he stared back at the deathly Amy, burning her image into his eyes as to propel the darkness inside.

Nothing...nothing happened. The faint smell of blood did nothing to support his efforts. There was the plan to get Amy and Shadow to tear each other apart. Literally. But that was unbelievable to start with. The climax before the build up. It didn't work that way. It needed to be done the reverse way.

"Your golden heart will not be tainted. Your struggles are amounted to the deepest, darkest fears. Your intentions are pure, and are at the best of everyone's hearts. But these people are not real. You are only too willing to help the illusions that are cast before you, only you know these are illusions in the first place. There's that belief that you yourself contain the mantra that regardless of what people are, they all deserve to live. Death...can be avoidable in your opinion. Your sorrows build when something has to die. But you have a sense of duty, an honour. If life was stolen, you feel the need to give it back. You follow that same code throughout life." Whispered the deathly Amy.

Sonic sighed.

"Then...how can I do this? Escape you mean...if you say my subconscious is not letting me do anything because it's against my morals then I'm stuck." He asked, desperate.

"Learn to let go..."

Sonic could feel the blood around his knees as more came out. Mindless propaganda...less filtering of the insanity to barge it's way through somehow.

"I can't...I just can't." He said, deciding to run off.

He ran to the door and tried turning the knob. Damn thing was locked.

"What's the matter Sonic?"

Sonic turned around. It was normal Amy in her pajamas.

"Uh...nothing. Just...needed some fresh air..." He muttered nervously.

"Can you help me then? I need to get all this blood out of my apartment. Have no idea how it got here."

Her face was...normal. Like there was nothing wrong in the world, only a leak had sprung, flooding the apartment. She...was in state of becalming motion, like this happened all the time.

"Uh sure..."

Amy gently turned the doorknob...and successfully opened the door. The blood began pouring out the apartment in no time flat. Sonic looked back down the hall way. The purple wisp and the deathly Amy were gone. Sonic gulped. Was this the fear they were speaking of?

"I'll get the mops then. Shadow can help too!" She said, happily wandering down to the laundry. Shadow walked out of the lounge room and towards Sonic, who looked away.

"I know what's going on." He stated. Sonic refused to look at him.

"Trust me when I say there's a whole bunch of us waiting on the outside for you two."

Sonic eye's swung to his. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Alright got em!" She said, coming back with three mops.

–

Soon, the clean up was complete. Sonic thought about Shadow's words in the meanwhile. As well as the deathly Amy and the purple wisp. Shadow gave Amy a kiss on the cheek before leaving the apartment. Sonic stood there like a stunned mullet, trying to absorb most of it.

"Are you going to take us up on our offer now?" Said Shizaru.

Sonic face-palmed. Amy walked back into the laundry to clean off the mops.

"You still want me to kill her? Wow...you're really related to Amy..." He said sarcastically.

"You want freedom? You must earn it." She scolded.

Sonic snuffed. "I have my freedom. I can go wherever I want to. I don't want you and your crazy girls to tell me otherwise."

Sonic swallowed his pride as she disappeared and Amy returned from the laundry.

"It might take a while for most of this to dry. I had to wash the sheets and so forth." Amy explained.

Sonic shrugged. It was only a dream after all. Shadow was no longer here and his fears subsided, it wasn't, however, waking him up. Amy seemed to be taking it all rather well...almost too well.

"Amy, do you ever have strange uh..dreams?" He asked. She looked at him strangely.

"What do you mean Sonic?" She answered.

Brutal honesty time...well, maybe not too brutal. And maybe a hint of fabrication. He rubbed his neck.

"Well, let's take a walk over it okay?" He suggested.

* * *

Outside was cold, yet peaceful. In the midst of the dream walking around the streets of a quietened Central City was pleasant, albeit calming. Sonic subconsciously bought a scarf that came out of nowhere, a baby blue with a single, slim strip and tendrils on each end. He even 'bought' matching mittens and a beanie. Amy wore a tight woolen, dull pink jacket and a pure white scarf and white with one red stripe beanie on top of her usual dress. Whether or not that was dream affected that's a different story.

Sonic discussed metaphor-driven versions of his recent visions, in which Amy nodded towards, and prompted her to remember the tarot cards in which she had played for him.

"I told you my cards were never wrong." She stated with a grin. Sonic chuckled.

"Yeah, I know now huh?" He said.

The two talked into the night, Sonic outlying his current fears to her. Most of them...mainly the fact that he hardly knows anyone and fears that they will eventually come to either harm or rebel against him.

"You know we won't abandon you. We know you're the hero of this planet. There's no doubt. You know when you need help and we know that we will always be friends." She explained.

Sonic pondered. "What about Shadow?" He blurted out by accident.

"What about him?" She asked, confused.

"Uh...n-nothing..."

As it had done many times before, silence filled the air around them. The cold northern winds created minor gusts, lifting up the tendrils of their scarves. Sonic walked alongside Amy, in equal province. He could wake up and find Tails. That seemed to constantly slip off his mind. He already felt the rift between himself and everyone else. But...this barrier was hardly in place with Amy. There were the differences and the similarities as he had pointed out over and over again. The constant vigil stroked him as the norm.

"I'm worried...I won't be able to escape." Said Sonic.

Amy's head lifted. She stared off into deep space, equally deep in thought, concerning Sonic.

She looked at her hands then around her, then back to Sonic.

"What's up?" He asked.

She had that look of realization and tensed. "We can't." She muttered.

Sonic eyebrows dove in confusion. "Why not?"

She frowned. "Never mind..."

–

They kept strolling along amongst their mutters of matters, when Sonic heard screams for help banging in his ears. From the looks of it, Amy could hear it too.

"What is that?" She cried.

"I don't know!" Replied Sonic. "Come on!"

Beside them a sudden patch of meters long grass replaced a tall building. Nothing strange for a dream in particular. They ran into it and filtered their way towards the screeching sounds, hastily running forward. They skidded to a halt as all Sonic saw on an lower patch was a smaller walky-talky. Picking it up, Sonic examined it, thumbing his lip. He pressed the receiver button and talked into it.

"Uh, hello?" He asked.

"Hello Mr. Thorn."

Sonic froze then spun around. It was Abbadonia, who floated there, grasping on to Amy with a suddenly giant hand.

"Sonic help!" Amy cried

Sonic scowled. "That was a dirty trick!"

Abbadonia cackled. Sonic gazed at Amy, who looked absolutely terrified. Sonic's heart pounded as the Pitlord sniffed all over body, then began tearing off her clothes.  
"Such a fresh body...how I love being invasive to the non-lucids!" She boasted.

Sonic rolled into a spin ball and attempted to pound her arm. It spluttered off with lava blood sprinkling everywhere, the arm itself eventually melting, become lava itself. Sonic ran over and picked up Amy and began speeding elsewhere. He kept repeating bated mutters.

"Itsokayitsokayitsokay..."

Suddenly he saw Kikazaru standing to his right as he ran past and skidded. Taking no hesitation, he fled off in her direction, before noticing Abbadonia's Crawlfangs chomping past, pumping more adrenaline into his veins. By the time Sonic had gotten back to where Kikazaru was, she had gone. His head shifted to his left, where Mizaru stood. Sonic ran towards her as a swarm of demonic locusts stormed their way through, barely missing them. Frantically checking his surroundings, Mizaru was no longer there, only Iwazaru was standing from afar. Taking the hint, he ran over to her, ducking his head down and keeping Amy close to him. Thunder roared as rain poured from above. The rain added on to the decibels as the demons screams were approaching. The thick, tall grass was making it difficult to traverse, the mud making it even worse. His feet spluttered about as he headed off in a random direction, away from the screams.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Sonic had slammed into the chest of Abbadonia, who flapped her wings as her bright, fiery head almost exploded, tiny embers bursting off and attempting to crawl all over the two frightened hedgehogs. Having enough, Sonic jumped up and roundhouse kicked Abbadonia in the head, only for his foot to go straight through. Abbadonia gave the most devilish smirk and snatched onto his right leg, accidentally dropping Amy off in the process. Sonic thankfully squirmed out of her grip and picked the fallen Amy and attempted to flee again, as molten lava streamed up from the ground, forming magma plate-like walls with Abbadonia's signature demonic runes. In a circle like fashion, the walls kept coming into place, blocking possible escape routes until it was just Sonic, Amy and Abbadonia, who used her prowess to create two shoots of fire on each side of her. The look on her face as she towered over the cowering pair, was pure evil. She could do anything at this point, and Sonic was powerless to stop it.

"What do you want?" Sonic demanded. This business of trying to either kill him or screw with him had to stop.

Abbadonia only placed one hand on her hip. "Give me the girl, and I will make sure I will take good care of her..."

Although her head was just a ball of fire, her eyes were made of ruby, piercing them to the core and her fangs looked like they were made of magma themselves, with hot, glowing cracks that had to be seen to be believed.

Sonic shook his head. He was wet, filthy and on the verge of his brain just imploding from anger.

"No. You're not going to even think about touching her." He grunted. He couldn't put her down, at risk of Abbadonia pulling out a trick of hers.

"Sonic..." Amy muttered. "I can fight..."

Sonic scrunched his eyes. "I don't want to lose you..." He cried out.

Amy smiled. "You won't. Come on...you know me..."

Sonic forced a smirk. "Fine..." He bated out. She was practically naked, but the only thing no one could take from her was her Piko Piko Hammer. He placed her down as she whipped said hammer out, burning to fight.

Abbadonia laughed. "Two against one isn't very fair..." She joked.

Sonic's lip twitched. "You haven't been very fair either!" He berated.

Abbadonia rolled her eyes. "Two wrongs don't make a right." She said, waving her index finger about.

"Shut up witch! I'm gonna pound you into the ashes of history!" Amy yelled.

Sonic was the first to make a move as he ran forward towards Abbadonia, spin dashing and colliding with Abbadonia's left arm, which broke off. Sonic back flipped and landed on three points, to witness Abbadonia's arm melting back into existence. Amy charged to her, hammer flailing and up in the air, gathering momentum and hacking off Abbadonia's right arm. Amy moved backwards towards Sonic, the right arm coming back. Abbadonia cackled.

"You have to do more than just attempting to smash my limbs off to defeat me. This isn't Dead Space you know..." Joked Abbadonia.

Sonic gave Amy an indicative nod for an idea. Sonic spindashed forward, Amy running behind Abbadonia while Sonic distracted her front. He weaved and dodged as Abbadonia attempted to swipe him with her massive, extending claws, and tried to whack him with her massive bat-like wings. Amy did a memorable graceful jump as timed seemed to slow down for her, thunder crashing and rain falling like bullets failing to drag her down as she thwacked Abbadonia's back from behind, causing her to scream and waggle about. Sonic did another roundhouse kick to her side, knocking Abbadonia over. With her fury, Amy thumped her body multiple times, bringing hatred and fury in every swing and relief with every successful hit. Sonic looked at the ferocious looks on his friends face, sweating and gnashing of the the teeth. He spun into a spindash once more and collided with Abbadonia's stomach, causing her to gasp in her attempts to speak out.

"You...pesky little hedgehogs..." She said, coughing in between. "But I'm not done yet..."

She grabbed onto the Piko Piko Hammer and dragged herself up along with Amy, who was taken with surprise as she was vaulted straight against the walls. Sonic winced, no...she could handle it. She was a big girl now. Sonic opened his mouth...but soon met with several claws to the chest, scars to his chest prevented him from talking. Sonic then saw Amy had quickly recovered and made the decision to thwack Abbadonia's knee, Sonic getting up and kicking the other one. Abbadonia's screech sounded like a thousand banshees at once, the hedgehogs forcibly made to cover their ears as Abbadonia's wings thrust outward, her pain exaggerated through fire spurts from cracks in the ground. She popped her knees back into place and made the hardened walk to Amy. Sonic thought of nothing other than jumping and using his homing attack her shoulder, causing Abbadonia to twitch around and swipe Sonic, who barely got out of the way in time and used a swerve-skidded kick on her leg to trip her over. Amy used all her might to slam the hammer on to Abbadonia's back.

Sonic pressed his foot over near her neck and glared at her.

"Now tell us, what do you want?" He demanded. It was most likely one of the take over the world or destroy the world ploys. It was what most evil-doers wanted after all. Abbadonia looked like she was no exception.

She spat and snarked to Sonic. "She's...fresh. This one...is old, weak and pathetic. If I had...her...I would not be in this mess." She spluttered.

Sonic looked at Amy. "What is she talking about?" He asked.

Amy raised her hands and shrugged. "I dunno..." She answered.

Sonic was still not happy as he twisted his foot over her neck, causing her to squeal. "Why are you collecting the artifacts?"

Abbadonia chuckled. "Hahaha...the artifacts. My...creations...I made them...for the Rosoideae..."

She said as she turned her head to Amy. "But...the Stupilites...the virulent little thieves...stole them and sealed them away..."

Sonic's eyes widened. But he shouldn't have been surprised. Especially with the Stupilites. He twisted his foot further to indicate more information was needed, not to mention his question had no been answered. Abbadonia screeched again.

"My existence lies with Dark Gaia. But the Prophets...hahah...their existence...their lives...lie with me..."

Sonic looked at Amy, who seemed to be staring into space. Sonic felt suspicious. No...she couldn't have known. She doesn't know what she's talking about. He could feel the heat from her ever-lit head on his feet, but he didn't care. He just wanted more answers. Lots more.

"Again...why are you collecting the artifacts?" He barked.

Abbadonia snuffed. "You're a Stupilite. You should know why..."

Amy grew impatient. Taking back the Hammer, she hit Abbadonia in the back, which appeared to be her weakspot, considering the joints of the wings sat underneath the shoulder-blades as Abbadonia screamed and gargled mercury.

"Don't you dare! He's Sonic the Hedgehog and you know it! You answer him now or I'll break your pretty little wings off..." She roared.

Sonic had never seen Amy so...fierce and threatening, well, more fierce and threatening than usual. There was a fire in her eyes and that wasn't coming from the reflection of the fire spurts. He had been getting vibes that something in her had changed. Was this the fear he needed to get out of the dream?

"Such...power within you...Rosoideae...your kind...however, was built on desperation, manipulated by power and had fallen on such terms. Your own stupidity...lusts for power sent you tumbling into the oceans of hatred. I remember...the first Prophet...he prayed...he prayed for it...sending your kind into eternal damnation."

Sonic was reminded of a saying. "You're saying the Rosoideae made a deal with you?"

Abbadonia laughs echoed. "I hung on to his pleas. The house wasn't even a proper house back then. The pink hedgehogs were war-ravaged and lax. Like the Stupilites after them, they were scattered across the ancient world, looking for a place to call their own. A young pink hedgehog...I remember him so well because of his foolishness...his name was Judan...prayed and prayed for days on end until I responded...he said...'We need life...we need stability...we need structure...'."

Sonic tilted his head in interest. "And you created the artifacts?" He said.

Abbadonia smirked. "They sealed their fate with the first one I created for them. Those words that I spoke on that day...were 'Abbaton, Sphere of Abyss."

Thunder continued blasting around them, as warping portal appeared out of nowhere, with Sonic seeing Shadow jumping out of it.

"I finally found you..." Said Shadow.

Abbadonia spat at the black hedgehog, then sniffed the air. "I thought I recognized that horrid stench." She said, lying there. Two more figures popped out the portal. One was a white bat, the other a wide, red robot.

"So you're the one that's causing all the trouble..." Said the bat, in a husky voice.

"DETECTION OF ANOMALY FOUND!" Churned the robot, loud and monotone.

"Shadow...Rouge...Omega..." Amy muttered.

The portal disappeared as Shadow waved his arm about. Omega crawled about and grabbed hold of Abbadonia and slammed her weakened body against the magma walls, Shadow using his Chaos Spears on her arms, legs and the top and bottoms of her wings. Sonic stood back as Amy ran towards Shadow and hugged him, Sonic almost forgetting this was...still a dream...

"Sonic and I beat up her good! She was no match for us!" She said proudly.

Shadow grinned as she clung onto his arm. He had a good look at her. "I think you should put some clothes on before we do anything else today."

Amy giggled. "I'm so sorry! I almost forgot!" She said, blushing. Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about it...too much." He muttered to her. He then turned to Sonic.

"Get Amy out of here. Team Dark will take it from here."

Sonic blinked. "But I have to keep talking to her! She has information I need!" He plead.

Abbadonia rose her head and snarled at Sonic. "I gave you what you needed...you were warned...she has her fate...you have yours. The cycle continues."

Sonic tried to retaliate, but was stopped by Rouge.

"Listen Sonic, Shadow, Omega and I will deal with this. We will have to write a report, but we promise to explain it all to you later on."

Shadow nodded. "Yes. Rouge is right Sonic. Don't make me beat the message into you...go..."

He turned around and summoned another portal via the usage of two Chaos Emeralds and gave one to Amy.

"I hear it's a good luck charm..." He said with reassurance. Amy looked at Abbadonia.

"But I want...to smash her more for what she did to me!" She yelled, stamping her foot like a child. Shadow, in a weird out of character moment, (according to Sonic) hugged full.

"I know...I know the feeling all too well." He assured. Amy sighed.

"Alright...come on Sonic!" She said, waving him over. Sonic glimpsed over to Abbadonia, who was giving him her evil smile. There was a quirk about her that Sonic couldn't place. Plus something didn't feel right. A demon like her should have had more...fight instead of falling so easily...

_She's...fresh. This one...is old, weak and pathetic. If I had...her...I would not be in this mess._

Those words echoed in Sonic's thoughts. A quote that was stitched into his mind. He would figure it out eventually. Suddenly Sonic fell forward, giving in to the pain in his chest from Abbadonia's good slashing. Great...wounds. He wasn't going to allow himself to pass out. No...he had to still be under the effects of the hallucinogen. Sonic would wake up and it would be all okay.

He could trust Team Dark, even though their methods were questionable, they were get the results. Sonic walked over to Amy as they took one last look at Abbadonia, then at Team Dark, and jumped into the portal...

* * *

Sonic jumped out on the other side. It took him a minute to try and process where they were. Still under the cover of night, below the crater of starshine, what little moonlight shone hinted that he had returned back to the Garden of Rosales. Where it all started.

Amy looked at herself and tried to shield her more naughtier parts. "Sonic...what are we doing here? I need clothes! Eurgh!"

Sonic almost forgot and blushed furiously. He scanned around for items to construct makeshift clothes. Since there were no proper trees or shrubs in the area, this was going to be a bit difficult. The only notable plants were the Abbadonia Roses that continued to be scattered across the Garden.

They were even less than useful. Amy walked behind Sonic as the two hedgehogs explored the ruins depths. Past the fountains and down the main street, the towering image of the Prophets Temple overshadowed the roads, its golden roof tiles glistened in the moonlight. The deathly silence separated them as they walked in the the Temple, Amy stepping on a tile, causing the torches that were across the walls to light up, startling her. The chair on the other side glittered, causing Amy to swoon over it.

"I wanna touch it! But my logic says usually pretty things are most likely cursed." She joked as she hid behind Sonic, who laughed.

"Amy, there's no one else here. Why are you hiding when it's just you and me?" He joked.

The sound of a Hammer hitting Sonic's skull flung him to the front of the chair, falling face first in the ground. Amy leaned on her Piko Piko and glared at him. Her theory was correct, by her standards. She walked over Sonic on purpose, in order to annoy him.

"I'll let you know that I am a girl. We have special needs!" She said, sitting on the chair and leaning her feet on Sonic's back, as if he was a rug.

Sonic himself grumbled in pain. He would never understand girls. Getting up, he saw that Amy was happily dancing her fingers alongside the armrests. For someone was almost...tainted, she was acting okay. However horrid the situation was, Amy was berserk or moderately calm, which disturbed Sonic. Slightly off would be the better term for it. Of course it was character for her to bash him, so not all was completely lost. The thought of Shadow making her personality better might be a good thing after all. He praised that, Shadow could protect as much as he could, even more so. The illogical reasoning, the oddness, picked at Sonic's conscious thoughts.

The Temple started vibrating suddenly, with debris falling from above. Sonic's instinct was to shield Amy, so he jumped onto edge of the chair and held on to the back of it, withdrawing his head in to prevent himself from being concussed. Amy shriveled into a fetal position, not making a sound. Then, as quickly as the quake came, it disappeared. Sonic realized he had squeezed his eyes shut whilst defending Amy, who uncurled herself and stared at Sonic. The blue hedgehog felt his cheeks warm up briefly, as he lept off the chair in a back flip, to see a rather bewildered Amy staring at something, with sparkles in her eyes. Confused, Sonic spun around to see what she had been looking at, and what was making the room glow.

Before him sat a tomb like apparatus, the inside had a loose pink silk inside, holding then, gold large ring like necklaces that had gemstones inside. One a baby blue, another yellow and the last a light green, supported a circular pendants. Sonic rubbed his eyes to get a closer look, as Amy made her way and leaned in to get a glimpse, her face in awe of the most beautiful pieces of jewelery she had ever seen. Sonic thought back to what the Prince had told him.

"I met a man..." He said. "A Hedgehog, pink like you, said he was the Prince of his people. He also mentioned having to search for precious gemstones. At first, I thought he meant the Chaos Emeralds, but no...these are far too small to be Emeralds."

Amy looked at Sonic, then back to the necklaces.

"Doesn't surprise me. The Prince was probably looking for his family jewels." She mentioned.

Sonic rolled his eyes at her words, which Amy simply was absent-minded about. "Are you sure these are the ones he was talking about?"

Sonic nodded. "I'm sure. They were meant...for..." He stopped, suddenly getting an idea...

* * *

He grabbed the necklaces carefully, then Amy snatched the baby blue one, stating that it was her favourite. Sonic cracked a smidge of a smile. She knew that they had to go back to their rightful owner, but she wore the blue one just in case. Sonic didn't bother and put the necklaces in the back of his fur, where everything else was packed. Amy no longer felt too naked, but still awkward nonetheless. He spoke of the Portals, to which Amy simply nodded towards as he explained them to her. Taking her hand, they ran off to the Portal Hub and activated Portal Five and blasted inside.

Sonic kept running. Regardless of what little was going on around him, he ran to the Prince's mansion in quick haste, Amy barely getting a glimpse of her surroundings. As they reached the front doors, Sonic knocked on them.

"Hello?" Said Lily, as she opened the door. "Oh hi Sonic! Come on in!"

Sonic nodded as he and Amy walked inside. Amy clung onto Sonic's shoulders, still trying to cover herself. Lily tilted her head in curosity.

"Are you okay there ma'am?" She asked. Amy blushed with embarrassment.

"I'm...in need of clothes...if you have any spares." She asked, with the bottom half of her head below Sonic's left shoulder.

Lily smiled. "I'm sure the girls would only be happy to share." She replied.

Amy nodded. She took off the necklace and gave it back to Sonic. "You said your friend needed this...I don't intend to run away with someone elses things." She muttered.

Sonic thanked her as he placed the necklace with the others, then faced Lily.

"You mind if I speak to the Prince? I need a word." He asked her.

Lily bowed. "Of course. He's in his room as usual." Lily answered. She looked at Amy to indicate that she would show her to the girls rooms, trying to note that it was okay to get out from behind Sonic. After a moment of hesitation, she finally came out and walked alongside Lily, only stopping to talk to Sonic.

"How long do you think you'll take? I need to get back home." Amy pondered to Sonic.

"Not long...I'll make it brief." He answered.

Amy turned back around and went on her way elsewhere and chatted alongside Lily as they walked off.

Meanwhile Sonic went up to the Prince's main chamber doors and knocked on them.

"Who is it?" Ordered the Prince.

"It's Sonic." The blue hedgehog complied.

"Enter."

Sonic stepped inside to a facade of smoke, and the young Prince brooding on his supposed throne. Sonic tried not to cough as Hayden drunk whiskey from a shot glass and pounded it back onto the desk. The smoke had the scent of strawberries, emanating from a cigar that balanced between Hayden's fingers.

"What can I do for you Stupilite?" Said Hayden.

Sonic approached the desk and placed the necklaces on it, spreading them out. Hayden got out of his chair and placed his hands on opposites sides to get a glimpse.

"I think these maybe those gemstones you were looking for." Sonic promoted.

Hayden smiled with surprise. "Really? Where did you find them?"

Sonic shrugged. "Well, it was weird. I was in the Prophets Temple and-"

"The Temple of the Prophets?" Hayden interrupted. "Impossible...we had the Fatalex look all over the Temple and-"

"Woah lemme finish!" Sonic said, raising his hands in a passive motion, not caring that he was telling off royalty, but Hayden didn't seemed annoyed, just...stunned.

"Go on..." Apologized Hayden, sitting back, intertwining his fingers and lowering his head in noble shame.

Sonic gave a deep breath. "Anyway, I wasn't looking at it at the time, but suddenly this tomb rose out of the ground and it had these in them."

Hayden glimpsed at these necklaces very carefully and with utmost interest. The desperation of getting these gemstones...the curiosity of their holdings as if finding a long lost childhood toy.

The glint in his eyes, the gape in his mouth suggested all that this indeed, was what he had been looking for.

Sonic crossed his arms and went on. "I was with my friend Amy at the time. She sat on the throne as violent young princesses do an-"

"What?" Said Hayden, his attention spun to Sonic, freezing his motions. "She...sat on the Prophets chair?"

Sonic looked left and right very quickly, confused by this confirmation repetition. "Uh...I just said that."

Hayden looked down and was in deep thought and tapped his right index finger, scanning the necklaces. "Never mind." He said, standing up. "Thank you. This will help us greatly into finding more answers. Maybe I will discover the true reason of the devastating destruction of our people."

Sonic nodded. "Glad to be of assistance." He said, smiling

"Incidentally I need you to do another task for me...if it isn't too much to ask of you." Presented Hayden.

"Shoot." Replied Sonic.

Hayden bowed his head. "One of the Fatalex has found another artifact, namely the Shell of Emotions. Deliberately toys with the feelings of other people to mold their judgment. The Shell was used to make future kings and queens fall in love with another, and rumour has it, gain small prejudice against the Stupilites, in order to prevent them from forging unities with the rest of the Rosoideae. She did not mention where she found it, only the possible location of the next artifact."

Sonic nodded. These Rosoideae were beginning to sound much less heroic and noble than they used to be. No wonder they went down hill.

"Remember when I mentioned to you last time, about how some descendants worked upon Space Colony ARK?" Hayden browed, Sonic thinking back. "The Agent discovered the Shell was next to a set of blue prints. I'm suspecting this other artifact was with another group of people. I mean, blue prints next to a Shell...that's a story I'm less likely to believe in."

Sonic shrugged. He wondered which Agent was the one that had found, Sonic's thought surrounding the fact that it might actually be GUN. He began to link the connections between the Fatalex and GUN themselves, and Shadow. While he was here, he might as well explain what had happened at the Sea Scroll Zone.

Sonic spoke of when he had left the compound and into Sea Scroll. He went up against Metal Sonic, then inhaled a strange gas then went on further about the hallucinations and ending up at Amy's house. Gathering from Hayden's expressions, he had knowledge of this. Shadow did tell Sonic that he was drugged, but the specific drug was unclear to him.

"Regardless of what Dr. Eggman said, it's not new. It was often used as a type of punishment, not to mention to tame unruly Stupilites...according to legend." Hayden explained.

Yet again, Sonic's faith in the Rosoideaes faltered. The morality of their methods was questioned.

"Lemme guess, it was invented specifically for blue hedgehogs like me?" He said with sarcasm.

Hayden poured another shot of whisky and drunk it quickly. "It acts worse...for the Stupilites. Prejudice was common in those days."

Indeed it would. That kind of power allowed alteration of standards, no matter immoral it was.

* * *

After their discussion of gases, Eggman, The Ark, History in general, Hayden turned his attention back towards the artifact. Hayden babbled on about the Ring of Memories and how it could be situated upon the ARK. No doubt, another joyous run throughout the mess of the the place was just as fun as running through the Death Egg. In fact, they had so much in common it was so hard to tell them apart...except for the fact that the Death Egg attempted to live up to its name with its ginormous size and penchant for numerous spikes and gravity altercations. Nonetheless, there was nothing wrong with heading back there. But he still had to find Tails. That kept coming back into his head. Poor guy, Sonic could only continue, as he would not have any clue where he was. He could run around the world to find up, but something, somewhere, would force him to wake up from this supposed dream. Sonic was strong enough to understand it, but even if he did, he doubted his concept of understanding was even close to the real reality. He stood tall and was ready and waiting for the next mission.

"Alright, so I go to the ARK, find the Ring and then come back? Sounds easy..." Sonic said, smirking.

_KNOCK KNOCK_

"Who is it?" Asked Hayden.

"Agent Drainer sir." Replied a voice.

"Enter."

Drainer opened the door, walked inside and closed it. Her head was down, her movements sluggish. She lifted her head as she came to the desk and looked at the Prince.

"I was ordered by Agent Shadow to extract a toxin from Sonic." She said in a dull tone.

Hayden bowed his head. "Very well. Do what you must."

Sonic was expecting a needle and dreaded as he winched. Instead, Drainer examined the wounds on the top left side of his chest that he had received from Abbadonia vicious claws. "Be thankful I don't have to stab you Sonic." She explained.

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "Uh...why?"

Drainer didn't reply as she grabbed Sonic's shoulders and forced him to face her. Spreading her legs into a star position, her hands rose upwards as she swung her arms across her chest, then flinging them backwards into a shaken struggle, forcing her right knee forward and left leg back into a lunging pose. Sonic's chest seared in agony as a violet light twirled in dust, forming a ball of Emberish yellow in the middle, forcing Sonic to fall over and land on his hands and knees. The pain was almost unbearable, but within fifteen seconds Drainer was done. Sonic puffed and panted as he got himself off the ground. He looked at the strange ember ball being coddled by swirling violet dusts. Drainer pulled out a vial from her belt, then let the ball become fluid and pour into the vial, Drainer placing a cork in it for security. Sonic tilted his head in curiosity, examining the substance in which was pulled out of him.

"What...what is that?" Sonic asked, weirded out.

"That...is Abbadonia's Fury. Very potent." She explained. "Made from Abbadonia Roses."

Sonic flicked back to what Tails had read out to him. The book had a bit that talked about something that caused hallucinations when burnt. Convenient.

"You should be fine now that it's out of your bloodstream." Comforted Drainer.

Sonic gave a thumbs up.  
"Sweet. Thanks Drainer."

Drainer did not wain, nor did she give any indication she was happy for it. Her wearing a helmet didn't help either. Instead, she bowed to Hayden before heading out.

Sonic gave a nod to Hayden to get on with it and exited the room as well. Going downstairs, he walked around the mansion to go search for Amy. But what would she do? Her house was either still wet or what ever. He fumbled over what he could do. Wake up...or keep going. He wasn't tired, probable proof that he was deep in slumber. It was time to return to the ARK.

Upon Hayden's interrogations, he mentioned that there was a portal that linked the ARK to Rosales. It was built in a secret room that was written on the blueprints. He bumped into Lily, who had gave said blueprints to Sonic, unexpectedly.

"I knew He would give them to you and only you." Said Lily, keeping a creepily calm demeanor that Sonic ignored.

"If you're looking for your friend, she's in the girls room. I will take you to her."

Sonic complied as he followed Lily back upstairs. Instead of turning left to Hayden's quarters, they turned right into a long hallway filled with many doors. Why did mansions need so many rooms anyway? Half the time nobody uses them. More portraits of ancestral kings, queens, princes and princesses. Families, children and the like. Further down Sonic heard giggles, he assumed it was Amy with the Pseudo Wisers. They finally got to the end as Lily knocked on the open door.

"Come in."

The girls room was quaint...girlish. Filled to the brim with mainly a four colour pallet of Green, Blue and Yellow with splashes of pink here and there. The kings sized bed had evidence all three girls slept in it, the pillow cases adjacent to each one representing each colour, the doona was a cream-white with a silky line boxed all around. Sonic could see the bits of pieces of junk...or treasure hanging off walls. Broken dolls and jewelery, things hanging off the roof and clothes everywhere. Amy sat with the girls on top of the bed huddled in a circle. She was the first to turn around. The PW's had given her some new clothes to wear. Namely a buttoned white vest that bared her midriff and tight, white three quarter leggings. She'd left her boots on the floor and her red headband was still on her.

He recognized one girl, who waved to him and had a gaping grin on her face. Her blue clothing indicated that had to be Hera.

"Who is it?" Said a softly spoken girl. She too, looked like Amy, but wore a green singlet and emerald three quarter jeans.

"It's Sonic!" Said Amy as she jumped off the couch and hugged Sonic, which Sonic noticed that there was a slight hesitation in her clingyness. Was this what a normal hug from Amy Rose felt like? Maybe he was so used to getting chocked to death. He saw another girl with a small, heartfelt smile. She did not speak, but her choice of wear was woolen yellow shirt, and a darkened yellow track-pants.

As Amy let go, Sonic explained the situation to Amy who nodded in turn, albeit surprised at another potential visit to the ARK.

"Sounds like fun. I'll go with you!" Amy said with excitement.

Sonic shook his head, for he possessed a fear that began to make him sick. He was worried that she would be hurt, that sickness continuing to gripe at him.

"No. Stay here. You will be safe." He assured. He was prompted by the body language the girls were giving off, hoping a protective stance was in order.

Her expression changed as her brows deepened. "I can take care of myself!" She said with hard earned determination. Sonic would have none of it.

"I don't want you getting in my way!" He explained.

Amy huffed. "Who says I will be getting in your way Mr. Hero?". Her arms flung to her hips as she leaned forward, wearing a scowl.

"You're gonna get kidnapped. You know the ARK is unpredictable...if anything you'll get lost, hurt. I want to the mission as quick as possible without having to worry about it!"

Amy glared at him. She was not happy with this...not one bit.

"Of course it's unpredictable! You have to have faith in me!"

It wasn't that he didn't have faith...imagery flashed in his mind of that weird ghostly, bleeding Amy from his dreams, or hallucinations. She would better suited to stay with her supposed people. She might even have better use here than on the ARK. He needed to be alone. Just for a while until he got things sorted. With himself.

"I'm ordering you to stay here and that's final!" Sonic roared, causing Amy to react with a saddened look on her face. She said nothing as she turned her back on him and scrunched her hands.

"Fine! Be that way! Go on your stupid mission by your stupid self!"

He'd rather have her angry with him than her being kidnapped, that picture of Abbadonia tearing her clothes off like that no doubt had plagued his mind, like her innocence was deliberately being torn from her. Why couldn't people just leave her alone? Especially now that she was dating Shadow. Go annoy him instead. He would dare them, because Shadow would rarely show mercy to those who dare cross his line. And that line was thin. Meaning it did not take much to tick the guy off.

She turned back to the girls, who all sat next to each other, holding hands and a feared expression on their faces. Amy sighed, letting go off the pointless anger.

"What's wrong?" Asked Sonic.

Amy rubbed her arm. "These poor girls. Been here all their life, living in fear. I told them about the necklaces we found."

"And?" Sonic pushed. He took a gander, knowing the three had been living here for so long. The factor of meeting someone else who was of the same kind crossed his mind. Ugh! Why didn't he think of that before?

"After what they've been through, they're worried that they're just gonna some tools in their ploy.

"Who's ploy?" Sonic asked.

Hera shuffled forward. "It's..."

"Girls we have an emergency!" Yelled Lily as she came charging back in.

* * *

Lily quickly gathered the girls and made them dress neatly. Her face was flushed as she constantly tried to get her hair bangs out of her eyes as she brush the quills of the girls and put make up on them. The girls were shaking in fear, seemingly expecting some sort of visit. She shoved and shooed them to go to the Princes main chamber. Sonic scratched his head in confusion, wondering what this paranoia was all about. Lily took no time in grabbing Sonic and Amy and shoving them into a tight closet.

"I'm sorry Mr. Sonic and Miss. Rose, but this is for your own good!" She said. Sonic took a glimpse of her face, which was now drawn and tired and beginning to riddle in sweat. Lily slammed the door and darkened the room. The closet was...small...with Amy pushed up against him, their noses almost touching.

"Did you ask about this?" Sonic said sarcastically.

"No! None of them mentioned anything!" She barked.

Lily banged on the door. "Shh, you two be quiet!" She said as Sonic heard her high heels clammering against the wooden floors and downstairs.

"What do you think is going on out there?" Amy whispered as she tried to move her arms about, but they were being pegged down by thick towels, only then managing to her hand several centimeters.

**BANGBANGBANG! BOOM!**

Both Sonic and Amy gulped in unison as massive footsteps raddled about. Sonic tried listening in to the conversations.

* * *

The front doors had been ripped and thrown across the yard with dozens of the jolly orange robots scattering everywhere and around the mansion. Inside, a well-known Doctor stood beside a familiar Demoness.

"Dr. Eggman! Abbadonia! It's good to see you again!" Bowed an obviously nervous Lily.

Dr. Eggman had his arms crossed and his face in a fowl mood, alongside Abbadonia who leaned on side with her hands on her hips, with an expression not too far from Eggmans.

"We're here to see the darling Prince." Said Abbadonia. Lily bowed her head.

"Yes. He's upstairs with the girls." Lily replied. Her voice was almost shaky with sadness, fear and regret.

 _Sometimes we forget that we're still dreaming..._  
The subconscious can build an illusion of reality,  
and push those thoughts elsewhere.  
As both the sub and normal consciousness  
filter out rhyme from reason,  
we carry on with our metaphorical obstacles.


	7. Embrace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic's heroism tends to make things worse.

 

Sonic did not fear the darkness, nor did he mind the non-sensory that came with it. It comes in abundance within Caves, Haunted Houses and your general spookiness.

But this...this was almost claustrophobia-inducing. Shut inside a dark cupboard, dingy and dusty, Sonic using his will to prevent himself from sneezing. He heard voices briefly although it wasn't Amy, Lily, Abbadonia, Hayden or any of the girls. Amongst the blank black canvas was a hole of light, with people streaming about. A lot of the words were too mumbled to understand. He could have fallen asleep there and then before Amy kneed him in the stomach.

Time passed as he nearly forgotten that she was in there with him. How could one forget that a partial reason for this kind of discomfort was made worse by the fact that it was two people slammed into what might of been a closet for blankets and bits and pieces of mansion junk. Wide awake, Sonic could feel her breath on his shoulder, indicating he must have shifted and hit Amy by accident. Her breathing was...totally calm. She wasn't freaking out, but it was so quiet in there he could almost hear their heartbeats, hers was hammering away. Sonic's was as well. Scared, excited, it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe it was the situation. In fact it most likely was.

He froze when something hit his nose, something of equal feel. Amy silently gasped.

"Sorry..." Sonic whispered.

"That's okay." Amy whispered back.

Sonic cursed his stomach once more, scrunching his hand. Seriously, hungry? Again?

He tried so diligently to listen in to the conversation beyond the doors.

* * *

Amongst the strawberry scented chamber, Prince Hayden leaned on the desk before him, looking apathetic as Eggman and Abbadonia stormed into the room, a bunch of robots flocking it. The Psuedo Wisers stood in a row on the right wall, appearing to be waiting for orders. The Prince had the necklaces spread out across the desk, Abbadonia strolling her way towards it. She picked the green one at it, and raised it up to see it in the light. Sporting an evil grin, she looked towards the girls.

"So...you're the next generation of the Wisers?" She said, her tone seductive. "Your names?"

The three could be mistaken for triplets, not for their resemblance but for the way that they had stood next to one another, hands together in front of them, their heads down and avoiding eye contact.

"I will speak for them." Said the Prince as he shot off his chair, only to be knocked back by a robot.

Eggman snarled. "You will wait until you're spoken to!" He barged.

"I will talk to the blind one." Said Abbadonia, as she glinted at the girl in the middle wearing the yellow.

"I am Ese..." She said softly, keeping her head down.

"The girl to the left is Hera, and to my right is Pekas."

Abbadonia smirked as she tugged on Ese's cheek. "Aww such a good girl. If only the rest of your kind was as obedient as you."

The Prince wanted to stand his ground as he glared at the Demoness, his anger rising, his patience barely holding him together and preventing him from causing utter chaos.

"I'm glad you have done this for me young Prince, you are one step closer to salvation." Abbadonia said as she nodded and clicked her fingers.

Hayden held his head high as the robots let go of him. "I have gotten what you wanted. Now lift the curse and let my people go!"

Abbadonia waggled her index finger. "Nuh uh uh! Not until these girls help me find the locations of the artifacts! And now with these...these wonderful necklaces I will harness the true power of the Wisers!"

Eggman pointed to Hayden. "Put em' on for her, and we'll make sure we will take good care of them!"

Hayden struggled as the robots grabbed hold of him once more, forcing him to take out his sword and slice several of them in half, dodging their thrown punches. But with their numbers he was swamped and punched in the eye.

"Now now you're highness there's no need to get edgy. How else will your people find rest if you're dead?" Spoke Abbadonia in a baby-like speak.

Hayden had his hand over his right eye, then letting go.

"I will do it myself." He said with pride, withdrawing his sword.

"Good...now get it over and done with!" Eggman graveled.

Pushing his way through a legion of robots, he took each of the necklaces and went to the girls, memories of their past streaming in his fore-thoughts. The way his father treated them were dark, but happier memories of them all playing out in the fields forced him to downplay a smile.

He was in front of Hera, who lowered her head. He tapped her shoulder, forcing her head up.

"Your Majesty..." She whispered. Tears ran down her face, The prince almost resorting to do the same, but kept strong.

"I don't like the colour red..."

"Neither do I...that is why we prefer pink..." He lipped to her, her eyes sown on every word.

Hayden hesitated for a moment, before placing the necklace over Hera's head. She stood still, her eyes glaring out in a fierce icy blue. At this point she had stopped shaking and had her arms by her sides.

Hayden sighed as he went to Ese. Poor girl, blind as a bat, had sweat rolling down her face and a quivering lip.

"Your Majesty..." She sputtered. Hayden lifted her chin up with his index finger to look into her pure white eyes.

"Don't fear what you cannot see." He said with calming motion as he placed the necklace on her.

Like with Hera, Ese straightened her body out, her eyes bursting out in in light emerald glow.

Hayden gave Ese a moment of his comforting stare before switching to Pekas. Her head too was held down low, forcing Hayden to lift it up with his two hands. Her face was emotionless, but he could see that sad look in her eyes.

"I know you cannot speak...but your actions always speak louder than words ever could."

He said as he placed the necklace on her, causing her too, to straighten herself out as her eyes were enveloped into a golden yellow glow.

One of Eggmans robots got hold of Haydens shoulders and forced him backwards as Abbadonia stood in front of them and rubbed her hands together with a sinister snarl on her face.

"For four thousand years I have waited. Since the downfall of the Echidnas and the reckoned uprisings of those humans..." She said, trailing off.

* * *

 

Sonic couldn't take it anymore, he wouldn't let Abbadonia or Eggman get away with such villainy. He burst out of the closet, almost knocking poor Lily over and blasted to the main chamber, skidding inside and alerting all to his presence.

"Sonic what a pleasant surprise?" Eggman sneered. Sonic glared, then looked over to Prince Hayden who was shaking his head. Abbadonia looked over to him.

"I thought you might head off in this general direction. Only someone as naïve as you would go into a place of what you thought was a probably source of solace." She said "Dr. Eggman, please take care of this! I'm taking the girls elsewhere!"

"With pleasure!" Eggman replied with glee, rubbing his hands together. He ordered the robots to group up on him, Sonic desperate to jump up and smash them, but there were just too many smothering him up.

"Hey! Lemme go!" Sonic demanded.

With the flick of her finger, a circular hole opened up beneath the Psuedo-Wisers as Abbadonia floated behind them and drew them down into it. Prince Hayden roared as he tried to slash through the robots holding him down, his rage blaring. By the time Sonic and Hayden managed to destroy them, Abbadonia and the girls were gone. All that was left was a pile of broken down robots and a gloating Dr. Eggman. Sonic ran up and lifted him by his collar, and slammed him against the wall, with Prince Hayden joining him, helping support the elevation.

"Where is she taking them?" Demanded Hayden.

Eggman laughed and raised his hands passively.

"Honestly I don't know!"

SLAP! A clean hit to the face by Sonic's palm stunned him briefly.

"Seriously I don't know!"

Hayden poked his sword into Eggman's stomach. "WHERE IS SHE TAKING THEM?"

Eggman started to sweat slightly as he waved his arms about. "I was only ordered to escort her here once I got the phone call."

Sonic looked at Hayden. "What phone call?" He wondered. Prince Hayden paid no attention to Sonic as the Princes eyes pierced through Eggman, who grinned at that response.

"BECOE! DECOE! GET YOUR LOWSY MECHANICAL BUTTS IN HERE!" He barked.

Suddenly the entire back wall crumbled as a metal claw smashed through the roof, grabbing the wall and tossing it aside, revealing another Eggman mecha in the shape of Eggmans younger self.

The cockpit revealed Becoe and Decoe pulling levers, before the protective glass opened up.

"Come Doctor." Said Decoe, who shifted the hand to grab Eggman out of Sonic and Haydens hold.

The hand plonked Eggman inside the cockpit behind Becoe and Decoe and shut the protective glass.

"Sorry my little warthogs, gotta run, you know, world domination and stuff like that...toodle oo!"

He gloated as the mecha blasted off into deep space. Sonic and Hayden ran to the edge in the attempt to catch up, but the mecha proved even fast for them, but Sonic wasn't going to give up, as he jumped out then onto the roof, hoping to grab hold of the mecha's leg but with no avail. He clicked his finger. "Ah nuts!" He complained.

* * *

 

Sonic went back inside with Prince Hayden, Lily and Amy, who seemed rightly peeved at Sonic.

Hayden stood at the front of his room, looking across at the damage that had been done and sighed.

Amy attempted to walk in and comfort him, but was stopped by Lily.

"This house means everything to him. But the girls meant more." She explained, saddened.

"Now that Abbadonia has the key to finding the rest of the artifacts, the ghosts won't be able to rest."

Sonic scratched his head. "Wait? What do they have to with finding them?" He asked.

Hayden turned around and headed towards them. "Legends had it that the last Prophet had tasked the Wisers to seal the artifacts anywhere they could before she died. Might have been her last request." He answered.

"So they're the only ones that know where the artifacts actually lie?" Amy wondered.

Hayden looked down. "Presumably. They were most likely sent through each portal to each area and seal them off for good, weakening Abbadonia."

Amy nodded. Then hit Sonic, who was surprised. "Hey what was that for?" He asked.

"Lily shut us off into the cupboard for a reason! Then you had to come out and be Mr. Hero again!"

She replied angrily.

Sonic was appalled. "What? How could I have possib-"

"She was planning to take them away anyway, regardless of what you would have done." Lily butted in.

Amy scratched her head in confusion. "Then how did they know that the necklaces were already here? We just arrived not long ago."

Sonic was going to say the same thing. There had to be something particularly fishy going on around here. The air was tense and silence did nothing to quell it.

Lily just shook her head and fumbled about as she looked to her left. "I don't know. Maybe its best that you two leave while we repair the walls. We will look for the girls. You worry about your friend and the artifacts."

Sonic nodded. "Okay will do."

The pair made their way back to the Portal when Amy stopped all of a sudden and whipped out her hammer and smashed it to the ground, stunning Sonic.

"What's up?" He asked, deeply concerned but kept a distance. He could see that there was nothing but rage in her eyes, even more so than before.

"Idiots! They sacrificed the girls to save their own skin! It's so...stupid!" Amy said, squeezing her fists her entire arms shaking violently.

Sonic didn't know if he should comfort her or not, out of risk of her smashing him to bits. Instead, he rested his palm over her fist, prompting to stop and gaze at him with the most confused look on her face. The rage was still there, but was slowly being enveloped with sadness. Deep inside, there was resentment crossed with puzzled spikes. These girls were of the same particular species as her, causing an instant connection with them all. Sonic would not let this go unnoticed...

"I hate this...I HATE THIS!" She said, whipping out her hammer again.

"I don't understand why it keeps changing all the time!"

Sonic tilted his head. "What's changing?" He asked.

Amy gave him a hopeful hint, but then changed to despair as she held her head. "No...it's nothing. Honestly. We gotta go find those artifacts!"

Sonic nodded in tandem, but was curious. There was a truth she did not wish to burden him with. He left it to her devices to see if she eventually spill. But it was none of his own business. Within that silence, They went through the portal and back into the Hub. The Prince had mentioned in their talk that the Portal to the ARK was the seventh one. He turned to Amy.

"Look, you don't have to come if you don't want to." He suggested.

Amy sighed as she checked her watch.

"As much as I would love to, I can't. Maybe next time!" She said, turning around.

"Why the change of heart?" Sonic asked, believing that there was more to the story.

"It's late. I gotta go home. I have work in the morning." She replied.

"Want me to take you home then? The ARK can wait...I mean, it is a long way back home from here."

Amy shook her head again. "Its fine. I can call Shadow to come pick me up." She noted.

Sonic just shrugged. Maybe it was true that Amy transferred her dependency on Sonic onto Shadow.

* * *

 

After Amy left, Sonic attempted to scan the Amberite once more, trying to access the Seventh Portal. The air shifted, but didn't bother Sonic. He knew who it was and scanned the Amberite anyway.

"Look, I'm sorry. But it was something I couldn't help." He said, approaching the Portal as it made usual actions and sounds.

"They can no longer help you. But we still can..." Muttered Shizaru. Sonic face-palmed.

"Yeah I should thank them for leading me and Amy to almost killing ourselves." He barked.

"Just turn around..."

He rolled his eyes to have a look at her. She was now wearing the same clothes as Amy was. The buttoned white vest that bared her midriff and tight, white three quarter leggings. He noted the lack of boots and headband. Sonic was not entirely happy with her encrypted messages. Why couldn't he just get the straight facts?

"Do you still feel that you're dreaming?" She asked him, walking up to him and having her hand over her chest.

"I keep forgetting that I am." He replied sarcastically.

"The time will come for when you will soon understand." Said Shizaru.

Sonic rubbed his forehead. "Understand what? I'm beginning to understand there's something going on here and you're not telling me anything useful."

No reply. She'd vanished once, living a tinge of anger stuck in his mind. Everything was too weird and complicated to sort out. He stuck with what he was properly told by Hayden and go to the ARK.

* * *

He shoved his anger away and ran through the portal. The other side was dark, only small LEDs flashed across the room. All that was heard was the air conditioner.

Sonic walked around as he searched for either a light switch or better yet, a way out.

He tiptoed around, feeling the scale-metal walls and ridges amongst smooth and rough surfaces until his finger clicked, causing the room to light up.

The whole room was littered with Ancient Mobikian scribble and possible graffiti. The script being red in nature meant they had to be written in blood, assumingly by a slight stench. Whispers filled the silence, as if a thousand souls crowded the room. The roof was low, just above the Portal itself, which had not been elevated like the others, just a clean slate of iron used as a path. Hundreds of black wires connected in the back, meaning there was a certain power source for it which didn't make sense, considering the others didn't have it. Facing the same way the portal faced, there was a violet light circling the corner, bits of its sparkle raining into nothing. It had to be the same Violet Sprite thing he'd seen before. Sonic ran over to sprite, before it vanished behind the wall. Using his fingers, Sonic rimmed around before a slate of the wall shifted sideways, revealing a hidden box passage. Sonic got down on his knees and crawled through it, jumping out. It turned out the passage was just some random air vent and had looked like it was had been used just recently.

The next room was slightly better. It looked like a rundown lab, but more cleaner than usual. Except for the more weird Mobikian messages scrawled all over the walls. Where was Knuckles when you needed him? But enough about that, the ARK was a bad enough maze to go through. Sonic walked through another door to trigger his memory.

He flashed back to when he and Amy stood at a glass window, after Shadow had fallen after the battle with the Biolizard. This was that same exact room. Whether or not it had more context was not as justified. He approached the window and looked upon the glorious Earth and contemplated.

Was this real Earth he had to fight for? For all Sonic cared he was probably some memory filling Dream or some other crud like that. Didn't matter, for Sonic figured, the Earth would look beautiful in blue in any positive visionary. He moved on to several other rooms. All had the same look, but did not have the written messages on the walls. A lot of it was pristine as the day it still functioned as a proper Space Station. He walked passed more lab rooms filled with nothing but tech junk. However he stopped as he went passed one and back walked to see a familiar two-tailed fox working on something. Sonic looked for the nearest door inside and ran inside to see his friend.

"Hey Tails!" Sonic cried.

Tails looked up and turned around. The smile on his face had to be seen to be believed.

"Sonic I knew you would come!" He said, the Hedgehog and the Fox hugging.

Sonic grinned. "You know me!" Sonic conciliated, pulling a thumbs up. He had a glimpse at what Tails was working on.

"I found it while walking around. I figured, that after I couldn't go through the portal again, I would search around." Tails explained.

Sonic nodded. "Were you surprised to find out it was the ARK?" Sonic queried.

Tails just shrugged and turned his attention to a small, charcoal coloured ring with onyx jewel embedded into it. "Of course! I looked all over, until I found this lying around in one of the cupboards. This...ring was in a jar filled with some type of unusual but smelly liquid."

Sonic walked over to the other side of the bench and leaned over as Tails fumbled with the ring. Taking a good luck at it, Sonic could recognize the runes on it.

"Is...that..." He started. "Another artifact?"

Tails head shot up. "You're suggesting this is related to the Sphere back on Earth?"

Sonic then explained the sequence of events that had recently occurred back on their home-world. Including the trips to various zones, meetings with Eggman and the Demoness Abbadonia, the collecting of the artifacts and royalty.

"Prince Hayden? Sounds fascinating. I'd like to meet him. If you say the Femme Fatalex are assimilating these artifacts for no just historical, but for a higher purpose, for the Prince, I wanna help investigate." He said with a excited tone, somewhat acting his age.

"Yup. We just need to take it back to his mansion if you don't mind." Said Sonic.

Tails smiled. "Not at all." He said back, throwing the ring to Sonic. "You should try it on Sonic. It's incredible. It focuses on areas that have had heavy historical energies. It must focus on the wavelengths of the spacetime continuum and upload videograms allowing a small non-severing wormhole to allow light bend with the temporal to oversee the visions, allowing us to envision highly-potent events without light actually enveloping the rest of the body, therefore not disturbing previous past potential temporal."

Sonic scratched his head. "So...we can see into the past?"

"That's what I just said." Tails exclaimed.

Sonic's brow lifted. Why would he need a ring to show the past when he just had random spouts of it all the time? Didn't matter. Another artifact was found and ready to be taken down to the Prince.

"What did you see?" Sonic asked, squinting at the black jewel.

"Scientists. Tonnes of scientists! Working on their machines. Honestly, we've been on the ARK like what, two-three times now, and with the amount of running around involved, you'd think we'd seen everything on it!" Tails answered.

Sonic smirked. "Looks like we need to find out more huh?"

Tails gave a thumbs up. "Right. But don't we need to give that ring to the Prince? I mean, you do have a task to do."

Sonic stared into space after that statement. This was far too easy a mission. Tails had just gotten the artifact and now it was already time to go back? The Prince would love to have it, but there was more knowledge needed. He knew he should move, but the scientists that Tails spoke of might have been the same that the Prince was talking about. Sonic didn't know and greatly tempted to find out.

"Well, just for a little while. The Prince is mostly likely not in the mood for me at the moment."

Said Sonic, understanding what happened last time.

"Whatcha do? Make him angry?" Asked Tails.

"Never mind." Sonic replied. "It just gives us time to check it out."

Tails nodded. "Sure. Simply put the ring on your finger and it automatically starts functioning."

Sonic examined the ring itself. He put it up in the light, swearing he could see an amber-like glow to it, possibly talking to him. After a few hesitant moments, he placed the ring on his right index finger. He closed his eyes tight before reopening them, the lights now having a strange pink tint.

Tilting his head down, he discovered that Tails was right; Scientists everywhere!

They were scattered and surprisingly non-human. Definitely the Rosoideae Hedgehogs. Equal amount of males and females, they seemed frantic in nature, with their brows sweating and the stench of rush in the air. It was all real. Sonic just stood in the middle, watching them all work on various pieces of either tech or chemical work. Chalk boards along white boards with various incomprehensible scribbles. It was a wonder anyone could breath in here, let alone with the air conditioning. He watched over as a door slid open, and revealed a well known past figure.

She was tall, blonde haired with a blue headband and cute silky shirt, baby blues skirt and blue slip-ons. She entered the lab. Sonic stood at the back towards the back window, looking on as she talked to the head scientist.

This particular one was a darker pink hue than the rest. A massive diagonal scar drawn on his left eye complete with mechanized eye, green sclera and red iris. He wore a grey labcoat and brown pants, and a simple wooden cane and roughed up head fur that was extremely messy. He heard them speak and his voice seemed gravely yet hers was sweat and sincere.

The girl nodded towards as she seemed to check to see if anyone was around. She motioned him forward as he walked out. Curious, Sonic followed them.

Upon his trails, they walked various walkways and pathways, passing guards and more rooms upon the space station. He remembered it being so...big! But the girl and the scientist seemed rather happy as they laughed along, seemingly going towards Gerald Robotniks main lab.

"I brought Professor Rose, grandfather." She said.

Sonic looked at Gerald. He was a spitting image of Eggman. Except he appeared more clean-shaven and well-mannered. Aside from the signature moustache, the baldness, the nose and the glasses, Gerald looked more human than most.

"Thank you Maria." He said, sitting down on a chair, looking at blue prints.

Sonic gazed at Maria as she walked off with a genuine happy smile on her face, off to where ever, Sonic didn't know. He trekked over to the side of the desk, watching both Professors look at the blueprints.

"I've having trouble with the machinations of the lizard subject you brought in. Its DNA is completely unstable due to unwary brain retentions like majority of sentient life. It's completely alien in origin." Explained Prof. Rose.

Gerald had his fingers feeling through the blue prints, which Sonic couldn't work out.

"Keep working on it for now...something is bound to come through." He suggested.

Prof. Rose nodded. "Yes sir. Might I also suggest something?" He asked, now looking in Sonic's direction, giving off an eery vibe.

"Yes Eric?" Said Gerald.

Sonic stood away as Eric traveled the wall Sonic was standing in front of. Glancing back, it was a familiar mosaic of a large robot holding a giant green emerald in front of a golden hedgehog.

"I know the house forbids it, but I suggest we bring in the Stupilite Leonard Thorn." Said Eric.

Gerald stood up and stood beside him, looking at it.

"I understand you call the Stupilites "The Guardian Angels" of the World, but on what grounds would they help with progress?"

Eric chuckled. "Leonard is the current Elder Guard of the Stupilites, currently situated on Christmas Island. He knows the secrets of the supposed Angelhogs surrounded in myth. Said to be born in times of great peril and..."

"Is energized by the Seven Chaos Emeralds." Gerald continued. "I know the story."

Gerald stroke his 'stache and adjusted his glasses before going to sit down again. "If the lizard fails, we can do a different model or activate a plan b of sorts."

Eric nodded. "Yes sir. I will contact Leonard and see to it that GUN brings him up."

Gerald sat back in his chair. "Very well. Until then, get the others to keep working on the alpha project. It's still considered Project Shadow, and the lizard can be the prototype for now. What ever does not work on it we will either attempt on this new one or leave it all together. After all, you did say because of its lack of unwary brain retentions. It needs...intelligence. A Heart. Yes..."

He said, swiping off the current blue prints off his desk and bringing in random pieces of gridded paper. "I will design this...after the legends...after all, it...is destined to give hope to all and save us from ourselves."

Eric looked down at one of the blueprints. "You mind if I take those?"

Gerald glanced over. "Yes take them! Take them! A lot of them are empty because I was having a major malfunction in creativity! But the rest are simply maps of genetic material that could be altered, twisted in order to define the aging pathologies. By all means! Take them!"

Eric smiled. "Thank you sir."

Sonic was intrigued as he too, stared at the mosaic. He recognized it as the one back on Angel Island, inside the Hidden Palace Zone. He wondered, as the familiarity between the image of the golden-embalmed hedgehog or ''Angelhog'' as Eric discussed and Shadow the Hedgehog started to rise. In Sonic's mind he put it together as possible reasons for Shadow's existence. Also alongside the factor that Eric might just be related to Amy, but that is a story for another time as he could be stating the obvious.

With these new insights in mind, he took the ring off, and ended up in the same room, seriously opening up Sonic's eyes. Literally. More transcripts and weird insignia, alongside bizarre mathematical equations and the like. It might have been where the madness soon began to spread.

Soon enough, Tails appeared.

"So...what was it like? I could see you looking around, listening in. I guess the ring makes you see and hear, but you're not really there." Tails theoried. "Its like instead of watching a movie, you're seeing it from the inside."

No doubt that ring could have potential power. Interesting enough for historians searching for answers to questions that haven't been answered to in a long while.

"You're right Tails. A lotta scientists that's for sure." Sonic replied.

"Did you see Eggman's grandfather?" Tails wondered. "I can see where he gets his intelligence from. But I'm guessing his villainy comes from the other side of the family."

Sonic crossed his arms and chuckled. "Yeah no kiddin!"

Tails stared at the mosaic as well. But this time there was a big crack in the frame, possibly from the GUN Invasion or the Professor's rage and eventual insanity.

"He must have gone down to Earth at some point, checking out the sites. Could have searched the world at some point, if I'm not mistaken."

"He did alongside his wife." Said a feminine, yet familiar voice.

Sonic and Tails spun around. "Olly!" They said in unison.

Olly strutted in within her usual stance. "During his early years, Gerald was an archelogist before he became a proper scientist. He was fascinated by history just he enjoyed working with medicine. Did you know his wife died of NIDS? Medicine merged into genetics. And when he heard that Maria inherited it he was devastated. So he issued GUN that if he could find a cure...well, you know the rest."

She whipped out her Smish Smasher and leaned on the handle. "Hiya."

Sonic smirked and crossed his arms. "So...came here looking for the artifact too?" He asked.

Olly nodded. "Of course. That would be the Ring of Memories."

* * *

They walked back to the main lab that Tails had been working in, but something crossed Tails mind.

"Olly, can I ask you something...its been bothering me..." He wondered.

"Shoot." Olly replied.

Sonic started fiddling with it, trying to make out the runes. He was no Knuckles but the factor remained with utmost curiousness.

"We've been here before and accessed some of the data files in accordance to what once happened here. But there was no record of Pink Hedgehogs on here at all. Part from strange symbols that are the same as the ones back in the Garden of Rosales. What was going on up here?"

Olly looked down before looking back up and shifted position.

"The Rosoideae scientists were extremely loyal the Professor. Or so it seems. GUN knew that there was sight of others on-board. But the Rosoideae were smarter than they looked. GUN never found the Portal. Their time aboard the ARK...was a complete mystery. Hidden compartments, the Rosoideaes were clever in placing them in many places, only to be unlocked at a later date."

Tails tapped his cheek. "So...why was the ring on here then? What possible significance does it have here? It has to be a connection to the Professors archeological experience."

"You would be right." Said Olly as she started moving around the room. "Professor Gerald went on expedition a long time ago. He was...alongside a group of others. Several humans. The records were wiped clean but we assumed he met the Rosoideaes. Including one...Muriel...Rose..."

Sonic and Tails faced each other. "Is that..." Started Tails. "Amy's grandmother." Sonic finished.

Olly chuckled. "We can't be too sure of whether Miss Rose traveled with Gerald that day. Because she stated she was the only one and the first one to discover it."

"Did you interview her about it?" Sonic inquired.

Olly nodded. "Yes. The reason GUN were so interesting in the Pink Hedgehogs is that they seemingly came out of nowhere. They didn't get on board by ship, which made the then Commander quite...curious."

Sonic continued fumbling with the ring. "So what did she say?"

Olly looked down again. "She was still going with the same story that she was the first one to discover the ruins. I say there's more to the story than we realize."

"I agreed." Said Sonic.

Olly stopped walking around and glimpsed at him. "Agent Drainer told me of the incident at Prince Haydens mansion. According to the Prince there was an encounter with Eggman and Abbadonia."

Tails looked at Sonic, who rubbed his back. "Yeah...the girls..."

Olly nodded. "It's okay. All three are wearing tracking devices inside of their ears. Agent Bazooka is keeping an eye on them. Last time she checked they were heading here."

Sonic blinked. "Wait...really?" He said, surprised. It was a possible opportunity to reclaim and save them. He'd still felt guilty for letting them get away.

"I'm guessing they're after this?" Sonic said, holding the ring up.

"Yes." Answered Olly. "Now that the Wisers can be used, the difficulty level has spiked."

"We have to hurry then and get the others!" Cried Tails.

"It's okay. I'll take the Ring back to the Prince. I've ordered Drainer to help with the reconstructions and clean up."

Sonic couldn't agree more. But then an idea traversed his mind. An idea so insightful that he couldn't believe he didn't ask it before. A smirk rose his lips, causing confusion from the other two.

"Olly how long until Eggman and Abbadonia arrive?" He asked.

"Uhh...lemme check." She answered, revealing a hidden wristwatch on left arm and started typing random things. "From what Bazooka told me...hang on...alright...I've worked it as at least two hours. Two hours from now." She announced. "Reports are given she's giving time to prepare herself in the...downstairs department. We're not completely sure but it's probably some solar flare that's preventing her from doing it..."

Tails cocked an eyebrow. "Is that just some random hand wave to excuse her from coming here when ever she wants? I doubt Solar flares would affect demons let alone preventing them from doing anything they wanted." He complained.

Olly chuckled nervously. "Well...I'd have to ask Agent Bazooka on that one. She's into guns and all types of weaponry but has a slight insight into space...or so she says..."

Sonic rolled his eyes. It was probably one of her lame tense jokes. But with that knowledge in mind Sonic grinned. "Great...that gives us plenty of time."

Olly exchanged looks with Tails. "Plenty of time to do what exactly?"

Sonic cleaned his ear with his pinky, acting all smug. "This ring...sees into the past. I was thinking...that while we're here..."

Tails eyes widened. "You...want to look back..."

Sonic nodded, causing distraught from Olly.

"Sonic, I wouldn't want to pry that ring from your eventual cold dead fingers..." She said, sounding worried.

"What's the problem? You said GUN has no record of the Pink Hedgehogs here. It's crazy enough for me to handle...you want answers..." Sonic pointed out, raising the ring up again. "I can get you them."

Olly sighed and face palmed. "...Fine. But you have to report everything you see. Don't worry I have a recorder handy in my bag of tricks." She said, grabbing a small black device out of her bag.

Sonic was psyching himself up before putting the ring back on.

"So, anything in particular you want me to see?"

Olly tapped her boot. "Anything that would be useful to us. If the legends and if Muriel's book was correct, the Ring taps into...now we call it, Time Scars."

"There's another term for our mental books." Sonic snarked.

Tails nodded and brought out said book and flicked through until he found the page.

"Hey, you're right. They're actually called Time Scars." He pointed out.

Olly didn't say anything as Sonic and Tails scanned the book.

"That's nifty. It says if you focus hard enough, the smaller scars can be seen...uh...what does that mean?" Sonic wondered.

"It means the lesser events can be seen. Large events have crowds of people, whom their presence can affect and grow the scar itself."

Olly lifted her chin. "That doesn't make sense. What about a city for example? They have their tonnes of people stroll through daily. It would be hard to search for a specific person."

Tails buried his head further into the book. "I see...the reason for that is because the feelings are...spread out across...meaning either that not everyone iis currently experiencing the same type of emotion or they're not as powerful as fear or love."

Olly rechecked her watch. "Well can we do this now? We might need all the time we can get. Especially if Abbadonia decides to jump in early."

–

As such, they exited the lab as Sonic closed and reopened his eyes. He focused in as small white blurs seem to zoom past, eventuating into solid forms, the white becoming simple labcoats on different Animalia. The ARK was a busy place once, thriving with life.

"Doctor Edenguard!"

Sonic turned to see Maria speaking with a young Rosoideae with her quills dreaded into many plaits, wearing semicircle glasses, a long white coat, tight skirt and stockings, alongside white high heels. She held a clipboard in her hand as she spoke to her. Sonic watched as they then walked to some random room and followed.

"I see...Maria...with, Doctor Edenguard." Sonic muttered.

The Doctor appeared young, vibrant. Same age as Amy, if not, older. They went in what looked like a sick bay. Maria sat on the edge of the bed inside as the Doctor fiddled with with needles and what not.

"How are we feeling today Maria?" She asked, her voice soothing.

"Fine, plodding along like always." Maria replied with a pleasant smile on her face, as if in no pain at all as Edenguard injected a needle into her.

"That's good to hear. Still working on that 'project' of yours?" She asked.

Maria smirked. "Granddad said it probably won't be worth it. He keeps assigning Artificial Chaos Units to protect me in case something goes wrong."

The Doctor chuckled. "I'm sure you're a very capable programmer Maria...like your mother was."

–

After a series of tests, Maria was allowed to leave the bay. The two waved each other bye as Maria headed elsewhere. Sonic didn't know who to follow. Instead time seemed to shift as uneventful as it was, blurs seemed to drift pass in an instant as if going through time. He focused again to make it stop, and found the Doctor speaking with Professor Rose in the sickbay.

"You worry me Eric. Actually your son worries me more." She said, seemingly doing the exact same thing she was doing with Maria.

"Bah that idjit! Doesn't know right from left!" The Professor barked.

"But I must admit, he is good with his hands." She said, wiping down his arm.

Eric snuffed. "Yeah I know...I'm glad he took up an apprenticeship with Prower."

Edenguard gave a stern stare as she injected the needle. "That Fox? Then it's true." She said.

Eric nudged his head. "What is? The fact the idjit can't read properly?"

Edenguard placed the needle into a special bin before cleaning up Eric's arm with a cotton-bud.

"Nope...he is trying to flirt with me. I'm pretty sure someone as competent as Moore Prower wouldn't allow an apprentice High End Mechanic hurt himself. Though those scars aren't without their charm."

Eric facepalmed. "You don't want someone like my boy. I blame his mother. Smothered him too much I reckon...for a brute, he keeps obsessing over jewelery. Ever since we found that gosh darned ring back on Angel Island..."

Edenguard smiled. "I remember...I was there...on that matter he always complements on my necklace."

Eric jumped off the bed and grabbed his cane. "I better get back to work. If you're thinking about dating young Thomas...think about it as dating that Leonard Thorn fella."

Edenguard gave him a raised eyebrow. "You're saying I can't date your son? Wow, seems like the roles have been reversed."

Eric shook his head. "Heck no. I'm just saying I don't recommend it. By all means if it makes you happy, do it! A lady as young as you still has time to make the right choices. I made same bad mistakes in the past so I'm just..."

Edenguard grinned. "Look Professor, if you were my father, I would instantly rebel. You know, family n' all." She snarked. "But can't you say one good thing about him to make it worthwhile?"

Eric scratched his head and grunted. "Grah...alright. Dunno if I'm going senile or what...he's a good kid, seriously. His heart is in the right place...idolizes that Leonard...even if I don't like em..."

"I'll go check my cards then huh?" Said Edenguard.

Eric rolled his eyes and shifted towards the door. "You do that...make sure they're played right."

–

Sonic took the ring off as he reappeared back into the present.

"You didn't say anything, so I'm gathering nothing was that important to make note of." Said Olly.

Sonic shrugged. "Not really. Just some Doctor Edenguard and that Professor Rose guy."

Olly looked down. "Doctor Edenguard...yes..."

Sonic crossed his arms. "She was good friends with Maria from what I saw."

Olly shook her head. "I know that. The amount of information that was gathered from many reports said that Maria had great relations with a lot of the staff. But this wasn't the stuff I was hoping to look for."

"What were you hoping for then?" Asked Tails.

Olly looked down one long corridor that seemed to go on forever and just stared at it, then looked at the book in Tails hand.

"The Commander was once a play mate with Maria and claimed he'd seen aliens. His father was in charge of the GUN Security and the Commander today jokes about walking around it, getting in to trouble getting into secret areas and getting caught in places where they shouldn't have been. He was one of a few people who knew about Black Doom, the Alien Overlord that was here not too long ago."

Sonic remembered that, albeit thinking back and remembering that Black Doom was Shadows biological father. Dark times...

"Give me the ring. I'll focus on that particular time if I can...and if it lets me. Tails, you take the recorder ok?"

After the exchange of objects, Olly put the ring on and seemed to just stand there. It was interesting being on the other side, as Ollys reactions to see the past were generic, the surprised newcomer.

Tails held onto the recorder tightly and followed the agents every movement. Her head shifted upwards, looking at a ventilation shaft. Ignoring that, she began walking down the long hallway.

"I'm following Maria and the Commander. The Commander is holding a box...rectangle, thin... I think they went up the shaft heading in this direction. I can hear them banging around." Said Olly, slowly making her way down, still looking up. Soon enough, she stopped, then started running. Sonic and Tails ran after her. "No not that kind. They must be heading to the secret room. I'm gonna keep going." Olly commentated. Sonic and Tails looked at each other and shrugged. They eventually encountered a circular dome, noticing a lack of solid ground and full of bits and pieces floating in space. Olly took one foot forward, Sonic realizing that there used to be ground there, the area must have been lost after. The ARK had been around for more than half a century after all.

"OLLY!" Sonic screamed, as he sped over to her, preventing her from falling out of the ARK's atmosphere by grabbing her arm. He pulled Olly up on to solid ground, her taking the ring off the finger and gasping in surprise at what she was about to do.

"Damn my clumsy self!" She grunted. "I guess the ring doesn't tell you when something isn't there anymore."

Sonic nodded in agreement. "Yeah...that was a close one..."

Olly looked on at the space junk that just stayed there, then lifted her head up again. The vents were still there, meaning all she had to do still was follow them. She turned to Sonic.

"Wanna race?" She asked with a playful tone.

Sonic smirked. "Do I ever..."

Olly made the first somersaulted leap onto solid debris, causing it shift slightly with the weird gravity in the room. Sonic was next, instead jumping onto another one.

Tails shrugged and flew up behind Sonic, who appeared to be paying attention to the leaps and bounds of Olly, who had the skills of an expert gymnist. Sonic rolled his eyes in his own belief that anyone could do what she could. He mimmicked her movements as they went from scrap to scrap, interlapping on the occasional gravity board or rails to grind on, with the Earth as a beautiful backdrop beside them. For larger jumps, Olly used her Smish Smasher and swung it around to aim higher. Sonic needn't do so, feeling that Olly wanted to be a show off, but then he soon admitted to himself that he was his own show off, so it kinda negated the whole point of his quickened thoughts. He landed on another railing that was heading downwards into another area.

"She reminds me of Amy." Said Tails as he finally managed to catch up to Sonic, who's eyes widened in response.

It was true the two were a like in many ways. Could be mistaken for sisters. Get those two in a room and you would have a full scale war on your hands. Sonic just shook his head and smiled, then went serious and turned to Tails.

"Hey Tails, do you think you could do something for me once we get back down to Earth?" He asked.

"Sure Sonic." Tails replied. "What do you need?"

Sonic glanced over to Olly, who was now also on her respective railings, doing loop-de-loops and jumps, forcing Sonic to look forward and grab onto another in front of him, swinging around to get back into the grind, Tails catching up again.

"I need you to look up something. Not now, and I'll tell you what I want you to look up when we get back." Sonic answered.

Tails smirked. "Oh I wonder who that could be?" He said sarcastically with a sinister look on his face looking in one particular direction.

Sonic just rolled his eyes. "I'm just asking you to do it, not to play stupid with me." He moaned.

Tails chuckled. "Alright, alright, no need to be a grumpy hedgehog!"

–

Soon after, Sonic amazingly came first in this weird race to wherever. That dome had to be at least several kilometers long. Didn't matter, as Sonic showed himself off again as he stretched and stunk of smug. Olly's hand simply flung to her hips. "Should I be surprised?" She asked, no anger in her tone, but still the same as before.

Sonic shrugged. "Nah!" He said, grinning.

Tails floated down to the solid ground and looked downwards. "So do we go down here Miss?"

Olly crossed her arms. "This was the only area open, so I'm gathering we still do. And call me Olly, apparently that's my name around here." She said, with Sonic getting the feeling she was staring at him from within that helmet of hers.

With Olly leading on, they eventually made their way to a blank wall, but the vent had gone through it, meaning there was something beyond it. Tails checked around it, but there was no doorway. Sonic rimmed his fingers around the walls wondering if there was a secret entrance.

"Nope...nothing." He said, disappointed.

Olly lifted her Smish Smasher, and began banging on it constantly, scaring the daylights out of Sonic and Tails. But even that failed. Olly impatience soon showed as she twirled her hammer around.

"I'm not gonna fail this. I want...no, I need to find...whats beyond that damn wall." She said with calm anger. "I didn't come all this way for nothing."

Tails walked up to her. "What do you believe lies in there?" He asked sincerely.

Olly sighed. "Reason Tails...reason." She replied, then looked up. "Hey Sonic, do you think you could give me a lift? Again?"

Sonic shrugged. "Sure."

Sonic knelt down as Olly stood on his back and thwacked the vent, denting it.

"Isn't that a little bit dangerous?" Asked Tails, a little worried.

Olly snarled. "No...not at all." She said sweetly, finally getting the metal sheet off and throwing it to the ground, nearly hitting Tails who jumped out of the way.

The Agent placed her hands inside the vent, as Sonic stood up and chucked her in there. She knelt down to grab Sonic's hand, who held onto Tails arms as they collided in the tiny space inside.

Olly went first, crawling her way down the shaft and into a new open area, jumping out and gasping. Sonic and Tails burst out with their surprise...

The room was...strange...but that would be an understatement. The room was lit in red, the ground, walls and some scaffolds scribbled in the same old Mobikian parchments. Blood was smeared around as well, as if someone had tried to get out. Tails shook with fear, until he mindlessly brought out the book and flicked through it.

"The Meeting Place." He said, almost monotone.

Sonic spun around, tilting his head in confusion. "What?"

He noticed that his Tails were no longer lifting up and down, but were dragging across the floor. His eyelids drooped and his expression lifeless. Deeply concerned, Sonic attempted to lifted his head up, but was met with a sudden electric shock.

"Proud as you are, at best, hence the cockiness inside. We rather not let you sleep the thousand dreams." Moaned Tails.

Freaked out, Sonic stood back. Olly readied her hammer. "Sonic, whats wrong with him?"

She asked, freaked out.

Sonic didn't know either as he shook his head and raised his hands. "I dunno...I was gonna ask you the same question."

Tails kept reading.

" **Asmodeus, Abbaton, Mammonite, Leviatia, Rosier, Belias, Verrinat**...arise from your kingdoms...purge the surface world of its light. We will not let the Angelhogs have their way with the world."

He murmured, his voice multilayer ed with another. His head shot up and glared at Sonic, who stood back in fear.

"The Seven harbours of doom and despair."

**Pure red. Pure Red flooded the room until all they say among themselves was deep, dark red.**

Nothing else...it was like its own dimension of a solid colour. Tails was still in his dead positioning, his stare stuck on Sonic. Tails had to be possessed, by Sonic's thoughts. That Violet Wisp reappeared above Tails, sprinkling sparkles around him.

"There it is again..." Olly muttered, noticing Tails was trying to swipe the Wisp. Sonic stared at her.

"You see it too?" He asked, surprised.

Olly's head fell. "Oh...oh no." She said...shaking her head and falling to her knees. She took the ring out and placed it on her finger.

"Olly! Wait!" Sonic screamed as he grabbed hold of her.

A flash of light blinded them...

"Shh Maria, they're gonna find us here again!"

Sonic reopened his eyes. He could see Maria and the younger Commander playing a board game in the room, which was a lot different...

A simple table laid in the middle of the room with wooden chairs. Maria and the Commander sat on each side, with the Commander rolling the dice and Maria chuckling for some reason.

"One...two...three...pick up a card..." She murmured. "Hopefully it wasn't like the card you got."

The Commander quietly chuckled. "Just read it..." He said.

Maria stuck out her tongue at him. "Okay, I will geez! I always beat you at this game anyway."

The Commander snuffed. "Bah! Who cares! I will beat you some day!" He claimed.

Maria rolled her eyes. "What...ever!"

She looked at the card closely and grinned. "Take two more steps down the board." She read.

The Commander banged the table and crossed his arms in a huff. "That's not fair!" He said, scowling.

Maria looked at him, giving off a cocky vibe. "What's not fair?" She asked.

"You always get those cards!" The Commander cried out.

"It must be my luck!"

A beep was sounded over the speaker system. " **WOULD MARIA ROBOTNIK PLEASE REPORT TO GERALD ROBOTNIKS HEADQUARTERS? I REPEAT, WOULD MARIA ROBOTNIK PLEASE REPORT TO GERALD ROBOTNIKS HEADQUARTERS? THANK YOU.** " Said a voice over the loud speaker.

The Commander laughed and pointed. "Ha ha! You have to go see your grandfather!" He sang.

Maria stood off her chair. "It's probably about that program he's been working on. You know Project Shadow?"

The Commander just leaned back and stretched his arms, then bending them behind his head.

"He's still workin' on it? Can I come? I've never seen it!" He pleaded.

"Okay but you better be careful."

The Commander packed up the game board and slung it under his arm, with Maria moving the tables and chairs away to the side. The pair got back into the vent via getting ontop of a pipe and and slinking down the vent. The air conditioning was the only thing that bothered to show signs of life. Sonic still held onto Ollys arm as they sat against the back wall. Sonic looked at Olly who didn't bother to move, still in shock about the whole all-red room thing. He let go of her, only for the red to fade back...

And the full white-eyed face of one Miles Prower, scaring the heck of him. He was met with a punch to the face, sent flying backwards but managed to land and skid on his two feet, mounting into a lunge position.

"You want out...?" Tails asked, still with the demonic voices overlaying his own. Tails pulled the bright violet orb of shimmering and sparkling out from behind and displayed it to Sonic.

"Here..." He said, using an unknown power to rise the light into the air. The light got brighter, then formed into something jumbled and so distorted, that it just kept expanding, with red jewels and strange straight triangle patterns and purple stripes with many eyes and the hint of a light beige colour in the stretched out poles, spikes and curved horns. Sonic could hear a high pitched scream that forced him to cover his ears. It was terrifying, putting it on the same line as what he had faced once before, as he didn't know which was first. But within the screams Sonic listened to repeated words.

_Wake up...wake up...wake up..._

… _.._

**WAKE UP SONIC!**

Sonic shot up and looked around. He was...simply astounded at what he saw, which prompted his first response.

"I'm back...in Amy's apartment?" He whispered.

He rubbed his eyes and slunked over, having no idea what was going on, but he had to leave. He had get back to the ARK right now before it was too late. Olly...Tails...

No time to see Amy either if she was still in bed. Sonic's head turned to the clock. It was three am.

Damn. Had he been asleep all this time as well? He didn't know.

He exited the building entirely and went for a run. A run to anywhere would be nice. A place that would not screw with his mind. The streets were deathly quiet, only for the occasionally stray cat or dog to walk passed or fight over food. Ignoring them, as his thoughts were running wilder than he was. His speeding didn't help him forget his worries, it rather elevated them.

Sonic was still running away.

He was definitely losing his mind. The eternal struggle of knowing what's real and what's not was getting to him. A simple trip over a trash can sent him stumbling into an alley way. He forced himself off the ground and leaned on a nearby wall. He started thumbing his fists onto it so hard, that after several times his hands started to bleed. Sliding down, he opened and closed his left fist, then cracked his fingers, tingling them then forcing his hands downwards to push himself up. He got out of the alleyway and readied himself for another run. Checking around to see if he had any spectral visitors, Sonic half expected something or someone to show up...

There was no one.

Taking a deep breath, Sonic ran his way towards where ever the wind took him. What ever Abbadonia was trying to do to him was working. In deep thought, Sonic mindlessly ran up the side of a tall building and just stopped as soon as he got to the top of it. The moon shone, as the icy chill prevailed through Sonic's breath. Was there no one...who could tell him...who could speak to him about anything of the craziest things he'd ever seen? He bursted off the building and ran to the outskirts of the city, then reaching into the country side and kept running until the sun rose.

Weary and confused after running for hours on end, Sonic made it to some weird medieval city. He walked passed locals and the like, then passed rivers with Gondolas and fabulous bridges and old buildings and castles. He recognized it as Soleanna. Sonic once visited here for a festival they held. Might as well do a little more sight-seeing. After all, he doubted he would encounter anyone he knew here. The birds sung and there was at least chatter about, Sonic relieved at the sign of life.

He was enjoying himself for once, not burdened by the sanctums of a Psuedo-hell. If this is what he thought it was then the girls may not have been kidnapped. Actually, upon that thought, they, as well as the Prince, may not exist at all. All figments of his imagination. He shrugged it off as he bought a chilli dog from a stand and ate it, the taste of a Soleannan Dog was just divine as the rest. Walking amongst both tourists and the local populace, he could see the town market, reminding him that he still had to get Creams birthday present. Might as well get it from here.

He trekked towards the long rows of stands selling food, souvenirs and all types of local produce. Dancers danced and singer sung, he wondered what he could get that that small rabbit friend of his.

He checked jewelery stands, clothes...toys. But he didn't know what she would like.

There was a flower stand, that he swore he could see Abbadonia Roses on, so he walked over.

The lady at the stand had blonde hair in a bun, a purple dress with a brown appron and no shoes.

Sonic thumbed his lip as he stared at the roses.

"Ah I see you like these flowers no?" She assumed, possessing what might be a regional accent.

Sonic looked at her. "What kind are they?" He asked.

The lady clasped her hands. "Ooo they're grown in the Royal Garden. These are really hard to grow too! They require the best soil and climate! Or else they die really quickly."

Sonic nodded. "Where's the Royal Garden?

–

The Florist directed him north, behind the giant palace. He sped off in that direction before heading for a fenced off area. The Guards blocked his path with their spears, but after realizing who he was, they let him in. The Royal Garden was full of beautiful colours with a variety of flowers growing.

He saw a tall girl standing in the middle, with short red hair and a long white dress that reached to her knees. "That must be the Princess." He murmured. He ran along to see her.

"Hi there, aren't you the Princess of Soleanna?"

The girl was staring at the roses before she turned around to see him. "Yes...yes I am...how did you get passed my guards?" She asked sincerely.

Sonic chuckled. "Well, I kinda told them who I was, so they let me in. I must have some reputation around here."

The Princess blinked. "Oh...you're Sonic right?"

Sonic nodded and smiled. "Yup. One in the same!" He said as he bowed to her.

The Princess smiled. "You may call me Elise."

Sonic took her hand and kissed it. "Pleasure to meet you Elise."

–

The pair walked along the pathways between the garden beds. Elise walked elegantly with her hands in front of her and looked onwards.

"My mother requested the Royal Gardens be made before she died. She wanted to remind the people that there are cycles we all take. Life, death and rebirth." Elise said.

"It's very beautiful." Sonic commented.

Elise nodded. "It is. Actually, nowadays it takes up a lot of the budget in the environment sector."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow, but smirked. "Of course it would...look at the size of it!"

Elise looked down. "No... a lot of these flowers are dealt with through decent amounts of rain and sunshine...but one type has been causing a lot of trouble lately."

She walked them both to a locked part of the Garden, with a tall Gothic fence.

"This flower...is said to have healing properties. The expensive side of it, is that it requires an expensive fertilizer that is found in the Enchanted Forest...which only the best of my sentries can get to. Unfortunately because of the dangerous nature of it, not a lot get out alive. And the medicine we make from the flowers is exclusive to this area, making it one of the famous parts of the country."

They were definitely Abbadonia Roses. No doubt even the roses themselves would come from there. He'd heard about the strange Enchanted Forest once before.

–

Elise welcomed Sonic into her glorious castle and showed him around, although Sonic had this feeling he'd been here once before. Ignoring that and shoving it aside as one of the crazy particulars, the castle had history. Her Father, the Duke of Soleanna, was also a respected scientist. Elise explained how science helped shaped her ancestry. The grey brick work, the stain glass windows which had a spectacular colourful shine from the sunlight the Soleannan people believe it comes from their god, Solaris. History...beauty and science. Three things that helped shape the world as it was today.

"The Seven great Kingdoms." Said Elise as they walked down a large area with life-like paintings on the tall, arched ceilings. "Soleanna has been around for a long time and is one of the last surviving countries with notable royalties."

They came across what appeared to be a spare room with bookshelves, a few chairs and its own open balcony to looked over the township, the white curtains dancing in the winds rhythm. Elise went to edge and clasped the fence. The view was great as Sonic stood next to her.

"This is pretty sweet." He commented.

Elise smiled. "Yes. I come here when I feel troubled. Which is what I'm getting from you."

Sonic looked up at her with a puzzled look on his face. "You can tell?"

Elise just had her eyes forward. "You didn't come to Soleanna just to see me. The next festival we have is several weeks away."

Sonic rubbed his neck. "Maybe I came to see you, because...I heard so much about you and wanted to finally meet you in person."

Elise chuckled. "No...no you didn't. Sonic the Hedgehog visits people when he knows they're in trouble or when something big is happening. I've seen your profile on daddys GUN Network."

Sonic's eyes widened. It wasn't the fact that GUN had a profile on him, which he would be surprised if they didn't, but the fact that someone like the Princess would be snooping around on the GUN files left him in bewilderment.

"Sonic I'm from a younger generation. I'm a teenager. I might be a Princess but I love using the internet. It's what we do."

Sonic scowled. "Don't tell me you have Glovebook as well."

Elise laughed. "Of course. I have a very select group of friends." She said, suddenly looking behind her.

"The locals want me to behave like royalty, but, I mean, like seriously. Princess life is incredibly boring when there's nothing to do but sit in court rooms, attend meetings and all that other adult stuff."

Sonic checked behind him as well. "You expecting someone?" He asked.

Elise giggled. "I don't want the other maids to hear me. But..." She said...unable to conceal her laughter.

"I have my friends come help me sneak out of my room on Friday nights and party elsewhere. They make sure their Princess gets back by day break...but please don't tell Daddy."

Sonic shook his head and smirked. "Yeah yeah...what ever. But why are you telling me that for?"

Elise managed to compose herself and waved her hand in front of her face.

"You should come to one of these parties some time! I have...an acquaintance who does awesome parties at an exclusive Soleannan night club! Only the best of the best come in."

Sonic wasn't entirely amused. He liked to party, but usually its with close friends.

"You're feeling down, right?" Elise wondered. "I can see it in your...eyes. You're tired. But I can promise you one night at Rob'Os will do you good." She said with a wink as she laid her arms on the brick fence.

"Thanks but no thanks..." He said, forcing a smile.

"I've been having bad dreams lately."

He noticed her expression changed from happy and assuring to sad yet interested.

"Bad dreams...lack of sleep..." Elise muttered, whipping her indexes fingers from side to side.

"I've woken up crying from bad dreams. Not that there's any reason we shouldn't cry."

Sonic's nose twitched. "Eh...that's not what I meant..."

He had a feeling Elise was rather odd or different. But as he thought about it, it was true. She was mostly isolated from the rest of the world, sans if she gets to visit iconic places as per genial visits. But...again she was a teenager and a future Queen. That had to bear a lot of responsibility.

"I know I know...anything you wanna talk about?" Elise asked with sincerity.

Sonic had this strange presence deep in his subconscious that told him he could be okay with that particular type of discussion, but wasn't too sure upon his forethoughts. He shrugged it off.

"No...just trying...to run as it off." He responded.

Elise turned her head to keep glancing at the township.

"You can't run forever. Trust me...I've tried." Elise muttered.

Sonic wasn't convinced. Running and jumping made a lot of what he did.

"What do you suggest then?" He questioned.

Elise grinned. "Try a Dream Catcher."

Sonic's head spun in her direction. "A what?"

Elise giggled. "You know, those circle things with all the string and feathers and stuff that help take away nightmares? There's a shop in the market that sells them. The man there is a bit too into the dream stuff."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "Oh a Dream Catcher...yeah I know one of those things.I'm not really superstitious..."

The Princess clicked her heels. "Me neither...but it's just a suggestion."

Sonic crossed his arms and looked downwards. A Dream Catcher...he doubted it would work knowing what it was made out of. His head lifted, remembering he still had to give Cream her birthday present. Maybe a Dream Catcher will do?

"So you say there's a shop that sells them?"

After that discussion, Elise pointed him in the right direction and fare welled him as he ran off and waved thanks and goodbye. Sonic fled to the market where the flowers were, then searched for the stall that contained the catchers.

He looked at stalls on his right and left that sold all kinds of trinkets...such as a a leather store, that sold bags, toys and jewelery made of dyed leather. There was another that sold tribal clothes and one that had rock based necklaces. But no Dream Catcher. He must have gone passed the food court three times before he skidded to a halt in front of a hidden stall within a dingy area that spoke 'shady'. He went over as he could see large rings of string, wood and feathers that dangled about.

A man turned around wearing a purple gown and had a long white beard with grey hair.

"Can I help you?" He asked. Sonic was suspicious, but didn't want to pass judgment so early. His voice was gravely and old-manish.

"Yeah I was looking to purchase one of these Dream Catcher thingys..." Sonic answered.

The Old man smiled. "Of course my young blue friend! Which one would you like?"

–

After selecting one, the Old Man wrapped it in a brown bag as Sonic made the purchase and gave his thanks to the old man and ran off to Creams house.

For hours he ran. Gathering from the eventual glimpse of the sun, it was after mid day. He hoped Cream would be happy with her present. Still, he wasn't entirely with it. He passed fields, more towns, cities, ran by lakes and rivers and forests on his way to her place. Given the several hours, his mind wandered about once more.

Within those depths, he wondered about Olly...and Amy, and whether or not Tails was still okay.

He couldn't choose anymore. He already did by choosing to run away from it all when he shouldn't have. There would definitely be a trip back to the ARK, a suspicion from the dream prompted that suggestion as it may, he still had a lot of things to do. Could he believe that the dream was entirely vivid that it had affected him in so many ways that he could no longer separate fact from fiction? Who knows? Sonic has had this internal and mental discussion with himself many times ever since the first dream he had was questionable. There was no way he was going to snap. Apart from the minor breakdown he had in the alleyway earlier, Sonic stood taller than he ever did. He made a snap back from the confusion and leaped into the real world where things were simpler. The dream world refused to come clear to him, it's basis held no probable message. He needed a sentence to understand it, not an entire novel making twists and turns in every corner. Not to mention that the book was most likely hidden on that darkened and horrid street in his mind.

Again with the Street. It was just...The Street, as he decided to call it now. The Street...with everyone he knew and loved living on it, their importance and meaning were the wages that paid for the houses and the bills that came with them. The Street was part of The Neighbourhood, which stood for everyone else he'd encountered, and The Town was the rest of the faceless void.

The Street...where the colour of the sky varied and the road ending in part of a cold fog. He did not live in a house of his own, for he owned The Street, but did not control it's residents. Instead he had the comfort in the middle of a roundabout, forever running around it and zooming off in random directions.

The Bloody Amy stood before him on the Roundabout, her blood running down the drains.

She fell to her knees. Sonic approached her and knelt down.

"Who am I supposed to protect?"

Her pale face was brimming with sadness and pain. The tears of blood just creeped him out.

"What...am I supposed to...do?"

The Street became The Maze. The Endless Fields grew in organic walls of trees. He stood up from where he was, just seeing the walls everywhere, possessing an infinite grow technique.

"Where...am I...going?"

A loud metal clang forced Sonic to spin around. A bright light enveloped his eyes.

–

"Sonic!"

He blinked twice to wonder where the heck he was. He had been grabbed and hugged as he just stared at a door. Looking down he could see Cream hugging him. Brushing all the nonsense off at the drop of a happy thought, he smiled at her.

"I brought your present!" Sonic announced, whipping out the brown paper bag.

Cream squealed. "Oh I knew you would!"

She dragged him inside where he saw a medium sized, black and yellow robot dusting the furniture in a cute pink apron, and waved to Sonic.

"Hey, where were you on Creams birthday?" He asked.

"Oh Gemerl was busy organizing getting the things for mommy's wedding."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "Your mothers getting married?"

Cream nodded innocently. "I think I forgot to mention it...or was it supposed to be a secret?"

Sonic rubbed his head. "So...Vector finally popped the question?"

"Yup." Cream replied. "But I won't forget daddy...I will never ever forget him."

Sonic didn't know Creams dad at all. Nor did Vanilla or Cream mention anything about him since they met. In spite of making her upset, Sonic decided not to question it further and changed the subject back.

"So you gonna open your present or not?" Sonic smirked.

Cream clapped and bounced about, as Cheese was busy helping Gemerl out with the dusting.

"Yay!"

Sonic searched around. "Speaking of your mom, where is she?"

Cream looked up. "Oh she got a phone call and had to leave. It was very important to her. She called Vector, but he too was really busy. I told her I can handle it, because I have Gemerl and Cheese to keep me safe!" She said with determination.

Sonic chuckled. "Alright."

Cream invited the other two to sit at the table as Cream opened her present. She wasted no time and tore into the paper like it was nothing and held it up.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's a Dream Catcher." Sonic replied. "It's said to help catch bad dreams."

Creams face lit up. "Really? So if I had a nightmare...it will catch it?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah...something along those lines..."

Cream grinned as she glomped Sonic. "Hey take it easy will ya?" He said, laughing.

–

Soon after, Cream headed into her bedroom to go place it above her bed. Cheese got a hammer and hook while Gemerl helped put it in place, putting the Dream Catcher on afterwards.

Cream did mini happy claps as Gemerl finished it and got off her bed.

"Its pretty! And I love the purple and the white on it! It sparkles too!" Said Cream, who clung to Sonic again.

"No worries!" Said Sonic, who gave a thumbs up.

Cheese fluttered by Cream, and started muttering incoherently.

"Oh I forgot!" Cream announced and ran back into the dining room. Sonic, Gemerl and Cheese soon followed, as Cream was scrambling through a cupboard.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Asked Sonic.

"Aha! I found it!" Replied Cream, pulling out a card from the middle shelf. She ran up to Sonic and put it in his hands. The card was biege and made of that hard cardboard like paper. It had italic text surrounded with dozens of black hearts.

"Its an invitation to my mommies wedding! We just had them delivered earlier!"

Sonic examined the cards date as his eyes widened. "Wait, the Wedding is next week?"

Cream nodded. "Mommy said there was an accident at the place where they made them so it took a while for then to get here. But...Gemerl is going to the post office with Mom tomorrow so she can post them off."

So many things to do...so little time. Sonic wanted to bang his head in. What did he miss in all of this? Perhaps a gathering of friends to ask around on what the heck was going on was as good as an opportunity as ever. He had a week...or however long he practically needed.

**KNOCK KNOCK**

"I'll get it!" Cream said happily as she skipped to the front door.

Sonic sat down on with one of the chairs, mentally exhausted. His brain was going to explode with all the confusion that was going on. He rubbed his forehead and hoped everything would soon be okay.

"He's here now! Come on in! I'll have Gemerl make you some tea!"

Great...someone else wanted to see him. Who was it?

"Sonic! Look who's here."

He took a deep breath, getting to intake more crap than he'd ask for. Standing up, he walked over to the front door to see a face he didn't expect...

"Rouge?" Said Sonic, surprised at the White bats appearance.

Rouge grinned. "Good evening Sonic, can I have a talk with you?"

Sonic blinked. "Uhh sure...sure..."

* * *

 

Rouge ushered Cream and Cheese back to her bedroom, while Gemerl made cups of tea, then went to go play with the young Rabbit and Chao. Rouge sat in the chair, leaning on it with her left leg over her right, her head on her hand and the other with its fingers around the handle.

"What do you wanna talk about?" Sonic asked.

Rouge gave Sonic a concerned look.

"I hear you want to know about the Femme Fatalex."


	8. Is it Time?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic learns more about the Femme Fatalex, as well as learning who else is in GUN.

_Again we fear the unknown. But why are we now so afraid of what we are inside? How we perceive others has been warped. But it is not your fault. There are those you can trust. There comes the belief where everyone has all but true ill-intent...you can travel far across the world and far across the stars even, the fabrics of time and space can be torn, visit other universes..._

_Logic is only lost when the laws no longer apply..._

_But the colours still feel right..._

Sonic's mind did a total backflip. He could have gone catatonic from the madness but he didn't. He just completely tripped instead. In the attempts to gather up the current situation became fruitless and pointless. Olly was trapped with Tails, who had gone mad. Prince Hayden was pissed off with him, rightly so...Abbadonia and Eggman had the Wisers...and Shizaru refused to inform him what was going on. And don't get him started on the 'Bloody Amy' hallucinations... Just don't.

"Sonic?"

Sonic was brought back to reality by Rouge's voice. He had no choice but to shut out the noise that came from his skull cracking from too many complications. He squeezed his leg to ensure that he was still feeling physical pain and was willing to listen to Rouge.

"Yeah...I wanna...learn..." He spluttered out, to Rouge's surprise.

"Umm okay then..." She said, a little bewildered, but quickly composed herself.

Sonic sighed. "Sorry...but I'm getting.. a little mixed up and confused..."

He definitely was. In fact, the Femme Fatalex were the least of his problems.

"That's fine. I understand that completely." She said, reassuring him.

"Ask what you need to ask..."

Sonic nodded. He had hundreds of questions but could only ask one.

"Who are the Femme Fatalex?"

* * *

 

Rouge sipped her tea before speaking.

"The Femme Fatalex are a Third Party group assimilated by Shadow. Mostly his idea...and even most of the stuff is highly confidential, but I was allowed in to know some of the details." She explained.

She started off with the initial organization with a mysterious person who did not wish to be identified, even to Rouge, who never even saw him.

"He tipped off Shadow by giving him huge documents containing history and numerous photos. Which doesn't make sense, considering I've been with GUN longer than Shadow and yet this person only wants to speak with him...but that's besides the point...you know me."

Sonic kept a straight face. Honestly he hardly knew Rouge at all, if that's what messages kept telling him.

"Anyway, Shadow approached me and threw several files over. All containing profiles of individuals I had to go retrieve and train up. When I asked him what was it for, he refused to answer. I had no choice."

The three individuals. Agent Mjöllnir. Agent Bazooka. Agent Drainer. Medium...Tall...Small.

They were specifically picked according to Rouge, in occurrence to their pasts and prominent needs.

"Agent Mjöllnir...she was the first one. She was easy to train, considering she was so well endowed with her own abilities. She had promise. The only issue was her anger...her rage."

Sonic looked down at his cup. He'd noticed there were times where she couldn't hold her anger. Specifically back in the Garden of Sakura, invading Eggman's base.

Rouge continued. "There was another issue she brought up. I didn't want to ignore but it was at Shadows insistence I leave it be for now."

Sonic blinked. "What was it?" He asked.

Rouge clasped the cup with two hands as her eyes dived into the tea. "She had trouble with separating fact from fiction. Possible identity crisis. I'm not a psychologist, I specialize in infiltrations of solid places, not mind reading. Shadow didn't want her visiting our own analyzer. I tried arguing with him but he wouldn't budge, saying that if I take her there the whole ordeal would be useless. Nonetheless..."

Made a bit of sense. Gathering from Olly's reaction to Tails, she may had seen something similar once before.

"So I trained her up, gave her a name...Originally it was Agent Hammer, but she thought it was unoriginal. So she picked Mjöllnir instead...no matter how..weird that sounded. But it was her decision so she stuck with it."

Sonic chuckled. "You were getting pushed around a bit..."

Rouge glared at him. "Watch your mouth Hedgehog. Be careful and I'll show you want pushing around means!"

Sonic sat back in his chair, smirked. "Do continue..."

Rouge put down her cup. "As I was saying, she was the easiest to train. So I got her to help me train the other two Agents."

Agent Bazooka was next on the list. From her profile, her husband was also an Agent of GUN, seemingly died in the line of duty during an incident a few years back. It was from his death that she became fascinated by large rocket launchers, hence the code name. He had tendency to joke around in high-octane situations however...

"It's just a coping mechanism. Like with Mjöllnir, they both have something to fight for. I understood Agent Bazookas motivations, but Mjöllnir's was complicated. She proclaimed that...she just wanted a taste of warranted heroism. That's all." Rouge stated.

Sonic tapped the table. "You think...there was something else...wasn't there?"

At that statement, Rouge looked out the window. "Perhaps..."

So with Olly's need to be a hero, supposedly, and Bazza wanting to avenge her fallen husband, what did Agent Drainer want?

"Agent Drainer...was a different case altogether. She didn't need anything, she didn't want anything...she was there to be somewhat of a hard bargain."

Sonic took another sip of his tea, while he had one arm over the chair and one leg stretched out.

"She doesn't talk much." Sonic assumed.

Rouge nodded. "Shadow told me to ignore most of the her profile, which hardly existed. Any record of her can't be found beyond a certain point, not even a date of birth."

So now there was data to work off, as Rouge thoroughly explained their more minor details. So the Femme Fatalex were no longer one sided, crazy women with mysterious tasks, minus the artifact collecting of course. Which lead to...

"One of GUNS Satellites found a strange parchment of land within the Earths gravitational pull. It was any wonder it hadn't been found before..."

Sonic thumbed his lip. "That would be the Space Greens Zone." He corrected.

Rouge crossed her legs and laid her hands on her knee. "Yes indeed...until our scanners read it had huge quantities of Chaos Radiation. We suspected that was jamming the sensors for a while."

Rouge further explained how Shadow sent the Fatalex to the Space Greens to meet up with Prince Hayden. This backed up his story completely. Finally, Sonic was getting somewhere and he knew who else to ask.

"So they have to collect the artifacts because..." Sonic started off saying, hoping Rouge would tell him.

"To prevent Abbadonia from getting them. She's a sinister witch...and a mean chess player."

Rouge continued. Sonic didn't want to know about that last part.

"Old records dictate that she was the creator and entrusted them to many rulers back many years ago. The Rosoideae Hedgehogs weren't the only group that she made contracts with."

Sonic browed. "How many did she...claim then?" He wondered.

Rouge bounced her top leg. "Seven. Seven Kingdoms. Some civilizations were destroyed. We can't be exactly which ones they were since few survived but refused to disclose their nature to us. Shadow's working on it."

**BEEP BEEP BEEP**

Rouge pulled a small black device out of her boot and checked it. "Well, it looks like I'm needed at the base. If you need any more info I suggest talking to Shadow directly, since he is directing this Operation. Actually, go see see old Lady Rose at the book shop. She may be of better help then I am."

* * *

 

So Sonic said his goodbyes to Rouge as she left the building and flew off. At her suggestion, he was prepared to visit Muriel once again. Rouge didn't say why Abbadonia needed them. She was a Demoness with extraordinary powers, why would she need such things when she could be a master manipulator. Old debts, who knows? Desperate times call for desperate measures...

He went into Creams room and adios'd her, also asking her if her mother would be home soon. Cream shrugged as she didn't know, but assured Sonic that Gemerl would look after her well.

With that confidence, Sonic fled off to Central City to see Muriel Rose...

Sonic was enlightened by the talk with Rouge, but couldn't get over the fact she somehow knew that he wanted to know about the Femme Fatalex, or maybe it was just a lucky guess. It didn't matter now, the girls had a story behind them and they were only doing their jobs. He wondered about Amy and how she was doing. All this fuss over old pieces of history scattered across various parts of the world. But he supposed it was better that she stayed out of it as much as she could. Saves the kidnapping, if at all. But now these Seven Kingdoms were in order and had it just as bad as the Rosoideaes. Muriel was an intelligent and sightly old lady, she was the one who wrote the book...well, had the book anyway. If Amy's story was true then Sonic had to be very careful where he trekked.

"Do you understand yet?" Asked Shizaru.

The world darkened to a halt, as Sonic was no longer running but standing still as the Prophetess spoke to him.

"Not really. But I can see why Olly can't separate fact from fiction. I'm beginning to feel the same way."

He stood at a literal crossroads that led into fog. A single lamppost stood behind him as Shizaru came into view...looking like Doctor Edenguard for some reason. Complete with plaited quills.

Sonic facepalmed. "Look I don't have time for your shenanigans. I have places to go and people to see."

"You've taken a few steps in the right direction. I witnessed it myself. If it weren't for the fact that it lead you there, I'm satisfied that you took on the suggestion and went with it." She said calmly.

_Pay attention...for the deed has been done and now all you will see in the bright whites of your life representing something...more. The second most seen colour...ambigious. The darkest colours you cannot trust...unless they have bright hearts._

Sonic turned around, then turned back to Shizaru. Colours now? He had to pay attention to certain colours?

"It's amongst the patterns of your reality that have been altered for good purpose and reason. Beyond reason is beyond purpose. Go."

The front of Central City flashed suddenly before Sonic's eyes. A stillness, but the busy metropolis presented comforting life. The sun shone and the atmosphere should have been okay. But an awkwardness stuck beside him, changing his perspective a little. He decided to take his time to think as he strolled along. He waved to people who knew him, the well-known celebrity he was. But they were just faces. Faces he would protect even though he didn't know them all. From small children, to young adults then all the way to the elderly. There was nothing wrong with the city itself. He should be fine, he should feel safe. But the otherwise was preventing him from seeing it that way. Shoving those problems aside, Sonic took Rouge's advice and ran off to see Muriel.

He spindashed up a building as he searched for the direction he was looking for. A gust of wind in his spikes alerted him to turn around, expecting Shizaru to reappear. But she didn't, strangely enough. Maybe she decided to stop bothering him for the day. However the sun was calling out in its warmth. The clock on the tallest nearby tower said twelve o'clock PM. Prompting Sonic to wonder how long he had been out for...he could swear he'd been out for more than that. All he knew was that his body clock said he was later than it was. He hadn't eaten lunch either. Another spindash sent him to a random hot dog stand, purchasing several chilli dogs and downing them all before you could say Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Energized as well as hitching a bottle of water to drink, Sonic backtracked his way to Muriel's store.

The humble bookshop still stood there. Aged as it was, it held up pretty well. Sonic approached the wooden door with the simple glass pane as the bell chimed as he pushed the door in. Forever dusty, but homely and somewhat cosy as the sun shown through the windows and a single fan on top. A brown hue with touches of golden yellow from the sun, the dust swirling about in its own business coloured the medium sized store. Numerous old book stands stuck with cobwebs and the like, it looked like some nooks and crannies hadn't been touched for quite a while. Red velvet couches with dust and small cushions that looked torn gave Sonic the creeps. Didn't look like Muriel was doing any properly cleaning or darning. In fact, looking over to the back of the store where the desk was, Muriel wasn't to be seen. There was a single doorway behind the bench. Sonic walked over the bell next to the register and rung it.

"Hello?" Said Sonic, wondering if Muriel was still around.

The silence was enough to hear a small amount of wind to seemingly reply to him. He could barely hear it, but it was there. Shuffling of feet became louder as Muriel came out through the doorway with her walking stick.

"Ah it's Sonic! Welcome!" She said, giving him a smile that's exclusive to grandmothers.

Sonic waved. "Hey there!"

She shuffled her way behind the counter. "What brings you to my humble abode? Here to purchase something?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nah sorry Mrs. Rose." He replied. "I've come to ask you more about the history of the Rosoideaes...as well as the Seven Kingdoms."

Upon hearing Rosoideae and Seven Kingdoms, the green eyes behind the fragile frames of her glasses lit up.

"Haven't you found your friend yet?" She asked sweetly, coming out from behind the desk. One look at the Walking stick, forced Sonic to flash back to see Professor Rose with one that was very similar. Although he brushed it off as a mere coincidence.

"Yeah I did. I know where he is...its..." Sonic replied, somewhat trailing off.

"Nevermind, he's okay."

Muriel nodded.

They walked over to the well-worn couches and sat down.

"So...you want to know more about the Rosoideae eh? And it's the first time anyone has mentioned the Seven Kingdoms...that was practically waning...fading off into God's good graces." Said Muriel, looking out the window.

Sonic sat on one of the torn cushions. Still comfortable at least. "Yes please."

Muriel bowed her head.

"The Seven Kingdoms existed over a debated amount of millennia. But it was said the suggested Eighth Kingdom was the first kind and are the true Precursors to this world. When the world once flourished with nothing but chaos it was once believed they were the ones who created the Master Emerald and the Seven Chaos Emeralds to put 'Order to Chaos'."

Interesting. The Chaos Emeralds played a big part in the majority of adventures that Sonic played part in. This was the first time that he'd heard of such origins. He leaned his head in to listen to more.

"Then...they disappeared. The Chaos Emeralds spread. Helped develop many races but ultimately each Emerald was dedicated to new Kingdoms, whom developed their histories and mythos. The Precursors did leave pieces of the history, but gave no indication of what they looked like. The Rosoideae were given the Red Emerald as a sign of good faith during the original meetings of the Rosoideae and the Stupilites. However there was the Knuckles Tribe..."

_Do you like the colour red?_

"Sonic?"

Sonic lifted his head. "Yeah?"

He didn't realize he'd zoomed out and started staring at the floor as words crossed his mind. The Red Emerald. He pulled the Emerald out from behind and displayed it to Muriel, who's eyes lit up again.

"Yes that one...that Red Emerald symbolized the pact between the Blue and Pink Hedgehogs. The Knuckles Tribe invaded one day and stole the Emerald. The Prophets said it was meant to be. They were simply trying to get them back to the holy shrine dedicated at the Echidna Kingdom."

Sonic just stared at it. "So they lost their source of power...and made a new pact with Abbadonia in order to get that power back..."

Muriel nodded. "Precisely. The Stupilites weren't happy about it. Not one bit. Their priceless relic was stolen and the bond between them and the rest of the House became...strained. Legend has it that the Knuckles Tribe had collected and successfully assimilated Precursors old ruins back on Angel Island..."

A loud bang was heard from the back of the store, prompting Muriel to shoot up, despite her old age, and walked over. Sonic withdrew the Emerald and followed, reading to leap into action if needed. Suddenly, a massive claw shot from the doorway, and grabbed Muriel unexpectedly, forcing Sonic to jump in to try and save her. Again, surprisingly to him, he was too slow. He managed to follow the claw through a hallway and outside a window, Sonic not noticing anything around him as he focused on saving Muriel. He jumped outside as the claw moved back and settled into Eggman's giant mecha.

Tall, fat thing...it was the same giant robot from the Space Greens Zone that kidnapped the Pseudo Wisers. Large red literal orbs that had white lined grids, an orange metal mustache poked out from under the the red nose. The torso was grey with two red zig zag stripes on each side of the dome like chest, the thighs titanium and shins iron man red. The claw extended out from an open round shaft on its stomach. Its arms, cylindrical in all their glory and three gritty spiked fingers on each. This thing had to be at least 20 meters in height. It was massive. A constant chuckle was heard as Eggman rose up above it's head.

"How do you like my Egg Goliath?" He gloated, wearing a smirk. Sonic quickly scanned it for any notable weak-spots, but had to retrace his thoughts back to the claw. Muriel was waving her hands about. He could hear the rockets coming from behind the Goliath as Sonic ran up the side of a building, dodging the rockets as they exploded on a windows, forcing glass to burst everywhere and the building to shake violently. Sonic kept his balance tight as he heard the fire alarm go off nearby. Looking over the edge, Sonic could see the workers flocking out the back and the front, and did not stop running until they were out of sight. More dodging and leaping ensured as Eggman fired off more rockets, all of them missing him entirely as Sonic jumped off the edge and shot down his left foot to try and break the wire connecting to the claw, instead he met with a Stumpwing, a type of demonic bat as they had met before, with no legs. Its fangs shot up and curved tall than it's stubby head and one eye, the bottom with root like extensions upon its charcoal body and glowing lava cracks. It only meant one thing.

Abbadonia was near.

After Sonic's foot collided with the Stumpwing, the Blue Blur did a complete back flip and landed safely on the ground. Dozens upon dozens of holes opened up from the ground as Abbadonia's demonic legions crawled out. But where was Abbadonia herself? Not having any of this, Sonic spindashed and treated several of the demons like bowling pins again, knocking them off their britches. Rolling out from a blast of fire, Sonic punched the living daylights out of a Crawlfangs, sending them flying on a bunch of old Mephbones. A Stumpwing flew overhead as Sonic looked up at it as it started throwing out balls of fire. Sonic ran forward and skid underneath, jumping on a Crawlfangs head like a spring, using the momentum and spindash the Legless from behind. In the air for a moment, Sonic witnessed more of Eggman's rockets aiming for him. He grinned and jumped on each one, doing back slips and skidding down the rockets before finding himself on the shoulder of the Egg Goliath. With a simple slide, Sonic got the end of the hand to grab a hold of the claw.

"Thank goodness!" She said with relief. "Get me out of this thing!"

**WHACK!**

He should been paying attention as he fell to the ground, surrounded by several angry Stumpwings Instead, a shot was fired as Sonic shot up. GUN Personnel shooting the hell out of the beasts.

"The cavalry has arrived!" Said Rouge as she grabbed Sonic up from behind just as a Crawlfang breath out flames. He watched as the black suited soldiers continued firing at the hundreds of demons around them. Rouge brought him back up to the arm and helped Sonic break Muriel free from the claw. A single swipe of her razor sharp kicks created a clean cut through the cord, the metal fingers dislodging and letting go of Muriel. Lucky Omega was underneath to catch the fragile woman, as Sonic and Rouge descended.

"She needs to get to safety!" Sonic barked.

Rouge agreed. "I'm gonna take her back to headquarters. You and Omega deal with this piece of junk!" She said as she took Muriel from Omega.

With that, Sonic could now focus on the Egg Goliath. He looked over to Omega and nodded.

"THAT IS PATHETIC!" Omega grunted. "IT WILL BE DESTROYED!"

In not time flat, as if having done the same idea before, Sonic ran to Omega who grabbed Sonic and spun around on the same spot, with the momentum and speed building with each turn as Omega used his back thrusters to blast up into the air and fire Sonic at one of the red orbs at high velocity. The sheer force of the blue ball broke the orb, causing Sonic to smile as he heard Eggman pounding away at the console.

"Fire more rocks you idiots!" He ordered as Becoe and Decoe sat in front of him.

"Yes Doctor." Said a rather nervous Decoe.

More rockets fired from different orifices this time, as Sonic rolled back down the legs. Omega did his job well by blasting hundreds of his seemingly limitless internal magazines, destroying each rocket that came from behind, from the round yellow shoulders, the torso and even the knees. Sonic rolled away from each one to allow Omega to get better aim. Eggman pounded the console even more.

"Get out the laser!" He barked.

"Yes Doctor." Said the equally nervous Bocoe.

Two antennae popped out from the round metallic head, bending inwards in the middle and joining together. A hot, straight stream of red shot from the laser trying to aim for both Omega and Sonic. Omega was forced to stop what he was doing and run out of the way. Sonic tried to distract the laser, but Eggman was savvy enough to the slower annoyer and almost shot off Omega arm in the process, if it weren't for white jets zooming in from above, destroying the laser within a minimum amount of shots. These planes, although fast, were white with a sun-like insignia underneath both wings, which also had small notches to make them appear like angels, as the cockpits alongside the noses were like gold and gleamed in the sunlight, supporting the resemblance.

"Woah who are they? Sonic wondered, somehow now standing on top of Omega in the midst of all the running around.

Sonic could hear Omega's sensors and scanners buzzing about as he tried to identify them.

"IDENTIFYING THREE FIGHTER JETS. SONS OF SOLARIS. JET MODEL SOL-2006"

He read out. Sons of Solaris?

They flew back over again, shooting at the rather resistant metals of the Egg Goliath.

Upon a somewhat loud roar, machinations shifted and shafted as the back of the Goliath spread its bat like wings out, causing a head tilt from Sonic.

"So...why didn't we attack from behind?" He asked himself in sarcastic scorn.

Flames hot out from underneath as the Goliath slowly but surely rose up into the air. The arms, legs and torso started moving about as it the giant robot transformed itself into a more suitable flying form. Sonic nor Omega were going to let Eggman off that easy. Speeding up the building in front him, Sonic jumped from rooftop to rooftop to catch up with it. Omega, not being that fast to flying on buildings, was slightly disheartened and shook his fists in rage...until he sensed a Crawlfang was heading in his direction and blasted it in one full shot. Eggman was no longer in his grasp, but these pathetic excuses would have to do.

"Agent Omega! We need your help!" Cried out one of the soldiers. He might as well. A battles a battle as he dove head first into the barrage of demonic beasts...

Sonic on the other hand was busy trying to catch up with Eggman, who kept firing more rockets at him, the speedy hedgehog doing quick lunges at each one, forcing gravity upon the rockets to a solid surface. A fast burst of air rose beside him as he looked to his left to see one of the SOL Fighter jets flying beside him, the lid of the cock pit rising up to reveal a white, hard suited person bearing a tag and a helmet similar to Olly's.

"Need a lift?" She asked, giving a thumbs up. Surely these had to be from GUN, despite the white suit. He shrugged and smiled.

"Sure." He replied. The tag read 'Hyperia' upon closer inspection. The lid fell and shut as Sonic jumped on top of the fighter jet, barely avoiding a taller building, forcing Hyperia to swerve to the side as Sonic barely held on. The fight jet steadied itself as the Egg Goliath was firing more rockets.

"Agent Flare! Left side! Agent Riser! Right side!" Commanded Hyperia. On que, the other two fighter jets flew in from each side, positioning themselves next to the Goliath. Sonic held his three point stance Hyperia flew them closer, then above the flames of the back. He leaped off the jet and onto the back of the Goliath. Eggman came out of a small shaft, whacking the shaft door open and crawling out.

"Give it up Eggman! You lost!" Sonic boasted.

Eggman crossed his arms.

"What? Who said I was giving up? I came out here to enjoy the fresh air...also..."

He retorted, whipping out a spray can. "Just to say...you stink!" He said as he sprayed Sonic with it.

The stench...it had to be Abbadonias Fury! A single small whiff turned the sky red. Sonic covered his face. "That's just dirty Eggman!" Sonic cooed. He bolted towards Eggman, his face had a meeting with his fist, but Eggman managed to grab it in time, spraying more of the Fury into Sonic's face, buildings springing up further than they were before, looking like they were no longer made of concrete, iron and all kind of materials, but pure magma, complete with lava spewing out from the windows. Sonic was not about to get into this mess again as he Spindashed into the Doctors stomach, Eggman gasping and almost falling off the Goliath onto summoned spikes.

"FLARE! GET IN THERE!" Hyperia ordered. Agent Flare's jet floated underneath where Eggman was hanging. Sonic walked over and placed his foot on the chubby gloved fingers to stare at the scared, wimpy face of his nemesis.

"Sonic! Help me!" He cried. Sonic should help him up. But why should he?

"You spray! You pay!" Sonic taunted, jamming Eggmans fingers with his feet, causing him to scream.

"Alright alright! I'm sorry! I promise I won't spray you again!" Eggman pleaded. Sonic smirked. Such cowardice. Sonic pulled him back up as Eggman dusted himself off and thanked him.

"So you're going straight to the slammer!" Sonic roared.

Eggman faked a surprised expression. "Really? I didn't know that..." He said sarcastically.

Sonic rolled his eyes. He waved over to Hyperia, before Eggman whipped out the spray again.

"SONIC WATCH OUT!"

Sonic looked over to Eggman sprayed, but instead a black figure grabbed him out of the way before he got the full brunt of it. He looked up.

"Agent Drainer?" He said, stunned, then shook his head. "I knew he was going to spray me again anyway!" Sonic claimed, trying to protect his pride.

She helped him stand up again as Sonic glanced over to see Agent Bazooka holding Eggmans hands behind his back. Sonic smirked. "Well done there...but I coulda' taken him..."

* * *

 

It wasn't long before Bazooka headed down into the Goliaths main console and knocked out Becoe and Decoe. She safely landed the Goliath above GUNS Helicopter roof pad as the Sons of Solaris landed in the plane bay nearby. Bazooka had Eggman in handcuffs, while Omega had arrived back with the others just in time to grab Bocoe and Decoe and take them off Sonic's hands. Rows of GUN Soldiers made a path as Sonic walked in front of Bazooka, Eggman and Drainer who stood on the other side of Eggman. The three pilots soon followed as Omega trailed behind.

"Who'd thought it would come to this?" Said Decoe, being dragged by Omega.

"I know...it's probably the most humiliating failure." Replied Bocoe, who was also in Omegas clutches.

They walked inside the GUN Complex as Rouge fluttered by.

"Bazooka and Drainer, take them down to the high security prison. Hyperia, Flare and Riser, follow me."

Sonic scratched his head. "So...what am I supposed to do?" He asked, looking at the long spiral the headed all the way to the ground floor. GUNS Headquarters was dreary, mostly darkened walls with the occasional pot plant and couch and chair with hundreds of people walking , scientists and engineers. Out of the crowd stood the Bloody Amy, sitting down with her knees facing in and surrounded in bandages. She just gave the sad stare at him as he stared back at her as she disappeared back into the crowd.

"Sonic did you hear me?"

Sonic faced back to listen to Rouge. "Wha? Sorry!"

Rouge face-palmed. "Drainer is gonna take what level of Fury Eggman splashed on you. The New Commander is expecting you as well."

Sonic nodded. New Commander...the other one he knew...that he flashed back to on the ARK. Retired most likely. Not that he heard much from GUN's point of view anyway.

Drainer tapped on his shoulder, giving indication that they needed to go to the infirmary. Rouge took the Sons of Solaris as well as Agent Bazooka and headed up to the top floor. Meanwhile Drainer walked alongside Sonic, who remembered he had to ask about Muriel, then thought it was better to ask her later...maybe this new commander could tell him some more facts.

"So what happened to Olly?" Asked Sonic. He had his suspicions but he had to be sure.

Drainer remained stoic. "She's on the ARK still. We haven't had contact from her since yesterday."

Sonic did a head check. No...she can't be. She might be. Sonic brushed it off.

"Want me to go look for her?" He asked, genuinely concerned, having the strangest inkling that she was in danger, knowing what happened before in the dream.

"Agent 'Olly' can take care of herself. One of her rules was that no one was to look for her if she disappeared for several days at a time."

Sonic chuckled at the ridiculousness of that. "What idiot makes that kind of rule?"

Drainer didn't show any other emotion. "As Team Leader, she's in charge."

They were getting closer to the infirmary as Sonic heard screams. Yup. Definitely it. But for Olly to instigate such a stupid mark on her team mates was out there. Narcissistic at best..or just plain selfish. Then again, Sonic did do a lot of things alone, by himself mostly. Even then, he still had friends to help him out from time to time. She could be being held by her entrails or bleeding to death. He expected the Bloody Amy to arrive as he looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. The pair walked into the infirmary and found an empty room as Drainer brought our her blades again.

"Are you gonna do it through my wound again?" He asked her.

Drainer stared down at his chest. "It's become a scar. To open up that wound again would be foolish. Give me your hand."

Sonic gulped. "Uh...okay."

Sonic displayed his left hand to Drainer, who examined his arm with her fingers and tilted her head with obsession. She knew what was she doing...but the primary fear was that she had done this before. He didn't know whether to be frightened or fascinated.

"I wanna know...what's Olly really like..." He said as Drainer looked for a place to jab her blade.

"She's...a competent leader. Done a lot of S-Rank simulations and has a 95 percent success rate."

Sonic had no idea about simulations or S ranks, but 95 success rate couldn't be all bad.

"But she's quick to anger." Drainer continued, making a small incision near Sonic's shoulder, causing him to shirk a little. Bits of blood seeping out, but Drainer kept the blade in while it absorbed Fury out of his blood stream and into a small amber coloured ball that she disposed down the nearby sink. She patched his arm up with a single bandage and he was good to go.

"It was a small amount that you inhaled. Shouldn't have been that much hallucinogen..."

Sonic certainly hoped so.

After that was done, Drainer took Sonic to the Commanders center. The room was worse in its dinginess. Frame-less screens that varied from small to large and seem to portray the clean up from Abbadonia's forces in different parts of the city. Sonic was impressed by the fact that they reacted so quickly. The desk sat above a small set of stairs, the floor was all metal, save for a single red rug underneath the desk. Around a black chair stood the Sons of Solaris, Rouge, Omega and Bazooka.

"Commander..." Said Drainer, giving a salute. The chair spun around revealing the most unexpected.

Sonic's eyes went wide. "Shadow?"

* * *

Drainer walked them both over to where the others were. Shadow stood up, now wearing a long sleeve GUN Jacket, greyish in colour and wearing a multitude of GUN decorations on his left side and his right side his badge. He wore the shoulder pads like the old Commanders and a classic brown belt, and surprisingly a grey pair of pants. But, as it was still was Shadow, he wore his usual skate shoes, glove and golden bands. Now wasn't the time for questions onto how Shadow actually got to be sitting in the most important chair in the entire room, but rather more important measures that needed to be addressed.

"Getting the man down there was easier than expected." Said Bazooka who broke the ice.

Shadow's head fell. "Eggman is not our only problem." He responded.

Sonic walked forward. "It's Abbadonia."

"Abbadonia has been a thorn in our side lately. She teamed up with Eggman purely for conveniences sake, knowing his history with previous deities. I doubt she would care he was gone." Shadow continued. "She was there today...but remained hidden surprisingly."

Hyperia rose her head. "Can I make a suggestion?" She said, taking her helmet off, showing her short read hair that made Sonic blink.

"Elise?" He asked, not expecting _that_.

Elise grinned and winked at him. "Sure am. I guess I forgot to mention I work for GUN as well. Cool huh?"

Sonic ignored the mysterious revelations. "Yeah I suppose..." He said, preferring not to deal with small talk at the moment.

Elise noticed the expression on his face, realizing now wasn't the time.

"Go on..." Said an impatient Shadow.

Elise pardoned and straightened herself up, holding her helmet under her arm. "Eggman was here...with only that giant robot and his two little robots. He knows Central City is heavily guarded. So Abbadonia backs him with her troops yet she's nowhere to be seen."

Shadow looked on, intrigued. "I think I know what you're implying."

Sonic faced Elise. "Eggman was a distraction?"

Shadow crossed his arms. "Abbadonia was looking for something...so while Eggman was busy terrorizing the city with GUN troops scattered across the city, the real threat was roaming freely without fear of getting shot down."

Rouge sat on the edge of Shadow's desk. "That's logical. Eggman was trying to kidnap Muriel Rose again."

Sonic browed. "I found that to be the strangest part. I understand she has important information about the artifacts that they're after. But..."

Drainer's head shot up. "Eggman has the Wisers in full strength who know exactly where the rest of the artifacts are."

Sonic tapped his lips with his index finger as his arm rest in his other. "They could be stalling. I dunno..."

Shadow grunted. "Even Mrs. Rose is keeping a tight lip about it all. She claims she doesn't know."

The mention of Rose made Sonic think back to Amy and wondered where she was in all of this. Far away, he imagined. He silently prayed for her safety, then flashed back to when Abbadonia had Amy in her clutches...

_Such a fresh body...how I love being invasive to the non-lucids!_

Sonic gazed into space, ignoring what was going on around him.

"I want you two to interview her." Shadow said to Elise and Rouge.

Rouge's hands flew to her hips. "You just said she doesn't know anything."

Shadow glared onwards. "She knows more than she lets on."

Elise raised an eyebrow. "She's an old lady! What morals don't you have!"

Shadow clenched his fists in anger. "Don't you dare speak back to me like that! As your Commander I order you to interrogate her."

Elise slammed her fist into the desk. "I came here because you needed my help with Eggman. I did as you said. I'm a Pilot! I fly! I shoot! I do the dirty work from above! I don't verbalize with the elderly unless they're a councilor."

Shadow looked away as Elise gathered the other Pilots and walked out of the room in disgust.

Rouge smirked. "You know it is obvious you haven't been Commander long..." She said.

Shadow grunted. "Shut your mouth. I know what I'm doing! Or would you rather let me interrogate her myself? And you know how unforgiving I am to those who stand in my way."

Drainer walked forward. "I'll do it."  
Shadow, Bazooka and Rouge stared at her. "What?" Said Bazza.

"I said I'll interrogate her. Commander, if you say there's something suspicious about Mrs. Rose, then I will interrogate her for you."

Shadow sat back down in his chair. "Very well Agent Drainer. I had her escorted to Interview Room Three."

Drainer saluted and headed off. "Of course sir." She before walking out.

"What about me sir?" Asked Bazza.

Shadow tapped the desk, then glimpsed at Sonic, who was still in deep thought, then looked at Bazza.

"Agent Bazooka I want you to keep an eye on him. Facilitate Protocol 76 if you need to."

Agent Bazooka saluted Shadow. "Yes Sir."

Rouge rolled her eyes and ended up throwing a pencil at Sonic's head.

"Hey! Blue sponge!" She taunted.

The pencil knocked him out of his trance. "Woah what?"

Shadow intertwined his fingers. "If you have anything to contribute, please tell me."

Sonic's eyes prevented eye contact. "Oh...no it's nothing." He lied.

Shadow bowed his head. "I want you and Agent Bazooka to head back to the ARK. Find Agent Mjöllnir and ask why is it taking her so damn long to find that damn artifact."

Technically Sonic wasn't a GUN soldier, but he would have done the same thing. Especially if it was to go find Olly. And Tails...if it was him.

After Sonic and Bazza left, Shadow was left with Rouge and Omega.

Rouge sighed. "Shadow please tell me if this plan of yours is working."

Shadow smirked as he crossed his fingers together and fumbled his thumbs. "Trust me. Operation LUCID" is going according to plan..."

–

"You seemed pretty spaced out lately. You alright?" Asked Bazza.

She and Sonic hitched a GUN Jet to parachute near the Garden of Rosales. They'd strapped in on the side of the plane as Sonic grasped onto the seat belts and continued to be deep in thought.

"I'm fine. It's...something that Abbadonia said that disturbs me." He explained.

Bazza looked around. "Well there's no one else here...cept the pilots." She said sincerely.

"Their heads are pretty much in the clouds."

Sonic smirked at that statement. He could count on Bazza to make light of the situation.

She was a nice woman after all. Technical but wasn't bothered by much. From Rouge had told him before, she was a widow, living it up to her late husbands honor. Sonic knew, if he could see what Bazza was doing with her life, he would be proud. Sonic watched as Bazza started tinkering with her weaponry.

"If we go on entire team missions, Olly would be the one with all the gear. But she told us to always be prepared." She said, engaging and disengaging several locks, causing the Bazooka to either elongate or shorten.

"She always that wise?" Sonic asked.

Bazza chuckled. "She trained me. Before this, I was nothing. I did a little teaching at the local school until it was destroyed. It wasn't Eggman...but Abbadonia."

Sonic frowned. "Revenge?" He theorized.

Bazza shook her head. "No...you see, my husband died in combat. Does sound like a double revenge ploy, but he did tell me however, that if he died, that he wanted me to live happily. So I did. But at times where I missed him so much, I'd stand tall for him and the rest of my family."

Sonic nodded. "So where does Olly come in?"

Bazza continued fumbling with her Bazooka. "She knocked on my door. She'd seen my profile and thought I could be perfect GUN Material. Money was good...good enough to get my child through school...after all, being a teacher's aid as well as money from the government isn't that much to get along with to pay the general bills...Bill himself was a hard, hard man to please." She joked with a slight laugh.

Sonic smiled again and looked forward. "Good that she did. I saw before, I was very impressed with what you could do."

Sonic had a feeling that under that helmet of hers Bazza grinned. "Thanks Sonic. You're a lot like Olly in a way. She does compliment often...but when her anger takes it toll you better watch out."

Again with the reference to Olly's temperament. He'd seen her rage, but wondered if it was the worst of it. Gazing at the Bazooka with a tilted curiosity, Sonic was interested in Bazza's obsession with weaponry tech.

"Husband liked big guns?" He asked.

Bazza nodded. "Yup. Taught me what I needed to know in case I needed to defend myself. Although when I was your age I dreamed about being a manufacturer of the best high-tech weapons so I dove inside military books to read about rifles, snipers, pistols...you name it. Even the most the complicated bullets and ammo that could pierce through almost anything. But rockets will always be my favourite..."

After a lengthy discussion, they made it to the cold Holoska north. Still brisk, Bazza lent Sonic a parachute, who shook his head as he grabbed a piece of random iron board that had been floating around. Shrugging as the back opened up completely, Bazza jumped out and extended her ponytails to allow for a slow and steady decent. Looking downwards whilst holding on to a bar, it was obviously a long way down. Throwing the board into the air, Sonic ran out in a spin dash and landed cleanly on the board. Bazza had her arms and legs out wide, while Sonic somersaulted and spun around as they fell and aimed their center of gravity towards the mountainside. Clouds whizzed by as the forceful breeze waved Sonic's spikes in erratic rhythms. Adrenaline pumping and heart beats sky rocketing with excitement upon the two daredevils as they got closer. Sonic pushed the board downwards, sending it down to the mountain with a mighty crash as the blue blue spread out like Bazza, using his quills to help decrease his speed. Bazza withdrew her limbs and shot forward like a atom bomb and grabbed Sonic's leg from behind, holding onto him as she flapped her ponytails rapidly as they finally made it to the mountain.

With much less talk, Sonic and Bazza wasted no time in going to the Hub once more. No funny business happening this time around. It was still a gentle afternoon after all the trouble they had earlier. The weather, calm and of mild warmth. The lack of notable noise disturbed Sonic, as troubled thoughts took residence in his mental neighborhood. The Agent and the Hedgehog walked down the main straight of the ruins to glimpse upon the Temple of the Prophets, its majesty over-shining the rest of the Garden of Rosales, wondering if it was for the deliberate overshadow.

Potentially passive, Sonic ignored the temple for now, trying to waste no more time. Although, if he could get a hold of the Ring of Memories, this place was bound to display the passages of ancient history, and from what Prince Hayden mentioned, that particular phase and point in time, 'Hells Sundering'.

Bazooka tried to break the ice with cracking a few puns, inter weaved with insane descriptions and analyzations of her favourite movies and how some of them get them wrong. She was rather hyper-observational at that, within westerns, action and sci-fi, their guns and all types of weaponry. She liked the Light Saber from Star Wars and was spewing herself on how she wished the Force was real. In a world like this, Sonic thought, you could probably find some form of improvisation. To the point, she babbled on like nothing else was more important, to say that how they could have developed a proper aiming system for the lasers on the Stormtroopers as she complained about their terrible aiming. Sonic couldn't think far back enough to remember watching the saga, most likely when sitting around with Tails on a rainy day watching nothing but movies. Bazza mentioned having a family, and a husband and went off topic.

"You have kids?" He asked, surprising Bazza.

"You mean kid...I wish I could have more. We were thinking about having another child before he died. I guess we never got around to it." She replied shrugging.

That was too bad. Sonic believed at least she had someone to fight for. For the happiness of a child. Motivation to do the right thing and set a good example. He smiled.

They entered the Hub and went into the Central Portal Room, checked in on the Sphere of Abyss, and traversed their way into PORTAL-7.

* * *

 

Like before, they'd gotten into the portal room inside the ARK, where Sonic lead Bazza into the foyer area near the same ARK Sick Bay that they were near before. Tracking back and using signs and minor iconic features, the pair ran down the hall way and eventually into the destroyed section where again Sonic jumped onto a rail and grinded his way to the other side with Bazza flying beside him. Probability of finding Tails and Olly was a slight chance, but given the size of the ARK, they would have to follow clues once they got to the so called 'Meeting Room'.

Arriving, Sonic explained to Bazza about what happened before he was...thrown back to Earth so suddenly. Bazza nodded along, seemingly confused at how Sonic was teleported with no additional help. The Chaos Emeralds didn't explain anything, but Sonic knew he would go nowhere if he told her he just 'woke up' at Amy Rose's apartment. Bazza was a technical woman, but he doubted she would understand elaborate dream science. Unless guns and ammo were involved.

"So we got in through the vents here." Sonic mentioned, reading himself to get in, before getting a tap on his shoulder.

"Hang on there Sonic...let me do the honors. Honors always do you." She joked, readying her signature bazooka. Standing back, Bazza inserted the specialized expanded ammunition inside and knelt down on one knee whilst keeping a safe distance between herself and the wall. In position with the bazooka on her shoulder, she fired a single blast...

BOOM!

Following the explosion, Bazza stood back up and strapped the bazooka back on her back and walked forward as the dust settled. Sonic walked next to her as they entered through the now shattered wall and into the strange room. As soon as the dust disappeared, Bazza examined the blood-written runes on the wall.

"Only if we had Drainer here...she might be able to transcribe these." She said.

Sonic looked around the room. There was the table still stacked up against the other wall. He walked over and looked behind it, and saw a black object in the shadows and grabbed it.

Flipping it between his fingers, he recognized it.

"It's the Ring of Memories." He announced. Bazza looked at him.

"I'd seen the mythos file. Powerful stuff...probably not lethal though. But still pretty cool." She commented.

Sonic had to know what happened here and where Tails took Olly. He grasped the ring in his palm.

"I'm going to put it on. I will find Olly." He said.

Bazza crossed her arms. "So...if I see you in trouble, want me to grab you out?" She asked, concerned.

Sonic browed. "I doubt I would be...I'm just visiting..."  
Bazza lifted her head. "Oh I get it. You can see the past, but the past can't see you."

Sonic nodded. "Exactly."

He gave her one final nod before placing the ring on his left index finger and closed his eyes...

…..

Upon his focus, he decided to pick the bit before he was thrown back to Amy's couch, that way he could see what actually happens when he disappears. However, that was if that was a dream or not. This will either prove that he was awake the entire time, or it never happened, it only occurred in the complex thoughts of one Sonic T. Hedgehog.

Funnily enough, three blurs came into vision, sharpening them to the point Sonic could properly recognize the figures. To his surprise it was him, Olly and Tails not too long ago. Or however long ago it was, it was still fresh in Sonic's mind. He could see Olly cling to his arm. You couldn't see her face, but Sonic knew, from her body language, that she was darn right afraid. The room was crimson red like before. His past self had the ring on, which was about the time where he had seen Maria and the young Commander pack up their things and left, then watched, whom Sonic believed to be possessed, Tails walk up to the pair and lean over, his head invading Sonic's personal space, then outright punching him in the face. The Violet Wisp reappeared and tried to distract and repel Tails, but instead Tails grabbed him and proceeded to distort what ever the heck it was into a monstrosity that freaked Sonic and eventually...vanishing. Within that split second, he was no longer there, the ring falling off his finger and rolling away. The Violet Wisp managed to punish Tails by reforming charged at him full throttle, knocking him off his feet. It then flew over to the other side and created a doorway for Olly, like it did for Sonic when he was drugged by Abbadonia's Fury. With no time to waste, Olly ran through the door and just kept running. Tails got back on his feet and looked over at the Ring and snarled. He stood there with his Tails refusing to waggled about, but were rather limp and just stayed still. His chest went up and down so at least he was still breathing. Sonic watched as his face became fixated on the floor for about several minutes,

Current-Sonic wondered what he was doing. Again the atmosphere changed dramatically from tense to worse. Suddenly he lifted his head up and slowly walked off, stopping next to Sonic and looked forward again for about a minute, the titular two-tails kept still and were now dragging his feet along as he practically slid. But now, he was in the state of frightening silence for several moments.

"He's...just standing there." Said Sonic, knowing Bazza would hear him.

Who ever was possessing Tails was quite a weird fellow. He was not interested in the Ring at all, but was fixated on Olly. She was long gone, but the redness soon faded and it became notable that the door was still there for Tails to walk through. The Wisp had left and Tails was still standing there. How Sonic wished to know what was going through his head. Perhaps he was busy fighting a battle on the inside. Many things but he refused to utter even a whisper in the desolate place. The oxygen vents hummed and things beeped, but other than that...nothing. Tails head rocked back and forth as he breathed, Sonic just stared.

Then Tails head turned in Sonic's direction, as if gazing at him. He was expressionless...dull...lifeless. An empty living carcass it might have been. Sonic turned to face him and blinked, still thinking about what this strange possessor was doing with the possessee.

A smiled formed on his face, albeit a very creepy one that almost stung, and tilted his head. His eyes seemed to be locked on with Sonic's.

"Boo!"

Sonic fell backwards with surprise, immediately taking the Ring off and looked around. Bazza was beside him, kneeling down.

"Easy there Sonic...fall was last season..." She joked as she helped back up.

"What did you see?"

Sonic stared down the endless hallway mindlessly as he failed to reply, but murmured a single sentence.

"He saw me."

If Sonic could see the look on her face, she would be cocking an eyebrow.

"Who saw you?"

He placed the ring back on his finger, and focused once more, trying to find where Olly ran off to. He rewound to the part where she'd just gotten out, and fled down another corridor.

"She went this way!" Sonic announced, pointing in the same direction and bolted.

He caught up with her eventually, but she bounced her way through various lab rooms and general admin areas but just kept running...and running...and running. She'd finally stopped as she hit a dead end, then checked behind her to see if Tails had followed her. A lack of sound response did nothing to ease her nerves as she leaned on the wall and slid down to catch her breath, which became jittered, as if gasping for air. She held her legs in close as her body rocked back and forth. Within time, she slowed to a halt, then lifted up her head as Sonic got closer, as if she could see him. He felt her stare which made him wonder...

"He just left! Why did he leave?" She muttered. Sonic didn't know what to say, other than to inform Bazza that Olly was here.

"Why do you mean he was sent back on purpose?"

Sonic blinked with surprise. He checked around himself to see who she was talking to. Nonetheless, no one was there other than himself. He sat down against the wall next to her as she took deep breaths. He wished he could put his arm around her for comfort, but refrained from doing so.

"Is he coming back? TELL ME CHAOS DAMNIT!"

Sonic looked forward, then let his head fall as he returned to his deepest thoughts.

" _She had trouble with separating fact from fiction..."_

Looks like Rouge was right. She was probably seeing things again. If it wasn't the stress of the job then he had no idea. He hallucinated quite a bit himself but he wasn't going to let it get to him again.

Although...

_"So...uh...Sonic...you ever...you know, have these weird visions?"_

He should have gotten the hint, regardless if she'd knocked the conversation back. Olly's head hit the wall.

"I'm tired...and frustrated Gabriel...I wanna go home."

Gabriel? Why did that name sound so familiar?

The air shifted slightly as Olly crackled knuckles, placing her hands on her helmet and was about to lift it until...

"Sonic we have an emergency!"

Bazza pulled the ring off Sonic's finger to see her. Sonic looked to his left to see that Olly didn't stay there. He stood up from where he was and glanced at Bazza.

"What seems to be the problem?" He asked.

A single point from her finger aimed in the right direction and gave him a head tilt. Dozens of creatures, that looked like Tails, except for the fact that they seemed to float there like puppets with no strings, and that their fur looked more like clothing fibers and stitches, with each a small pole sticking out from the top of their heads with a small, round red light on them. Their eyes lifeless and heads were rolling all over the place like a rag doll.

"Tails Dolls...lot's and lot's of Tails Dolls." Said Sonic, his eyes looking over them. Bazza took out her Bazooka and somehow split them in two, tinkering with them until the became larger than normal lasers.

"I doubt they want to play with us." She joked.

One moved forward very quickly, but its limbs dragged behind as they attempted to smother the two. Bazza blasted her way through the hordes of strange puppet like robots. Sonic on the other hand tried his homing attack on a few them just to get the heck out of there. Bazza trailed behind but there were just too many around. Instead, she pulled a small cylindrical silver device from out of her bumbag and pressed several buttons and threw it on the floor. She jumped up and started gliding above them all, barely catching up to Sonic as the device exploded behind them.

"Uh oh, more ahead!" Sonic announced. Seeing an upcoming corridor to their left, they took a detour and swerved to avoid the mass. Running as Bazza spun herself around, her front to the roof, she began firing multiple blasts as the Dolls were summoned from the roof. She swerved back around as they came across a set of sliding doors that lead into the ARKs atmosphere protected exterior. Sonic jumped up and grinded on the connecting rail, then jumped upon a platform and pressed buttons to make it move. Bazza flew and settled down beside him, aiming her guns towards the doors as the mass of Dolls burst out and hooked their red orbs underneath the rails, looking like a production run. Bazza began firing like mad to prevent them from catching up. Unfortunately several were too quick, swinging themselves around to make it to the transporter. With the Earth in the background, there was nothing below them. One simple fall from the platform could mean doom for them, unless Bazza uses her quick thinking to save him, but she was busy blowing up heads. Sonic kicked and punched several that came on-board and round house kicked three off the platform, sending them down into the darkness below. Deciding the platform was too slow, Sonic jumped off it and onto the rails in front as he cried out for Bazza. She flew off but not before destroying more dolls. She flew beside him as fast as she could, as they reentered the safer parts of the ark and kept running.

They came across another dome like area that looked more like a lobby than anything else. Sonic ignored the scenery as more dolls dropped down from above. Sonic jumped up and homed in on each one, hitting the antennae on the head confirmed that that was their weak-spot. He forced himself down to skid across and slide underneath several as Bazza flew overhead and destroyed each one in her way. Sonic meanwhile found a rather narrow hallway, but was forced to burst through. Bazza tilted to fly sideways, making sure she had enough space to do so. Sonic skidded to a halt as he went through into another room, letting Bazza fly inside as Sonic pressed several buttons to force the door to be locked.

This new room had a tall roof, computers everywhere with several tubes in the middle. It was dark, barring the numerous amount of neon green lights everywhere...floor, roof and walls...computers and the tubes with an ambient green fluid. The computers beeped and hummed. Bazza kept her guns aiming towards the door in case the dolls decided to be funny and open it.

Sonic stepped forward to properly check the place out. He felt a bit dizzy all of a sudden as Shizaru stood in front of one particular tube, wearing a long white buttoned up lab coat...and nothing else.

"This is room is being cloaked. It is not what it seems." She muttered.

Bazza withdrew her guns and refit them both into her titular bazooka after a moment of watching the door, being somewhat sure the Dolls wouldn't be able to get through.

"New all-range, all purpose Bazooka that I designed myself. It's called the Baz-Neon two-in-one X-343 Combine." She babbled, whipping the Bazooka onto her back and facing Sonic, who was busy staring at the large test tubes as bubbles rose in the water. She walked over to a computer console and faced one of the monitors. She motioned Sonic to come over with the wave of a hand. Complying, he walked to go next to her as he stared at the monitor himself. Nothing interesting was happening. He turned to his left to see she had disappeared again. Typical...he scanned the hundreds of buttons for anything in particular, only to see one button was completely red.

"This place gives me the creeps..." Bazza commented. "I don't know whats creepier...here or the dolls..."

Sonic examined the button for another moment, before deciding to press it, causing all monitors around the room to light up in their light cascade hue. Tails face lit up in all of them, but now he had deep bloody eyes, sharp fangs and a nasty snarl.

"Greetings Mr. Thorn. I see you finally made it to the party." He said, his voice deep and gravely.

Sonic turned around and blinked, as he saw that the walls were no longer there, except for an endless fog-induced light, with the roof low and black, enriched in lava blood cracked runes, spanning as far as he could see. Looking down, the floor was in the same exact state. The monitors spread all around, with now a single large test tube in the middle, containing Olly attached to several cords as she slunked there in unconsciousness.

"She will be very pleased at this specimen." Said Tails. "As well as capturing the one Stupilite that refuses to follow the orders of his original house."

Sonic and Bazza ran up to the glass tube and rested their palms on it.

"Olly!" Bazza cried. She stood back and prepared her Bazooka, before Sonic placed his hand on her shoulder.

"That might do more harm than good." He suggested.

Bazza sighed and withdrew. "Fine...but we have to get her out of there!"

Sonic tried spindashing into the glass, but it had some sort of force-field around it, a blue aura that glew every time a fast-moving object was thrown at it.

"Foolish Hedgehog! I'm not letting you leave this place!" Tails taunted. "The Tails Dolls will take care of that."

Plopping down from above, they were surrounded by even more Dolls. This time, they were a lot larger and riddled with drips and swishes of blood. Raising their arms, they were more akin to zombies than anything else. Wasting not time, Sonic spindashed and homed in on each one, bouncing off as many as he could. Amongst the flocks, they began making high pitched noises, but sounded like they were speaking backwards. Using Sonic as a distraction, Bazza could now use her Bazooka properly and started firing at large groups wherever she could. It seemed endless. Sonic landed back on the ground, then stared at Olly, who started squirming. Checking beside the test tube was the Bloody Amy, still bandaged as she was back at GUN Headquarters.

"Sonic look out!"

Sonic faced back in front of him as a Tails Doll grabbed hold of his neck. Through sheer will, Sonic kicked it in its chest, then pulled out his red Chaos Emerald.

"Chaos...CONTROL!"

Time slowed down, as Sonic got out of the Dolls grasp, time speeding back to normal afterwords.

"Woah you didn't tell me you had a Chaos Emerald on hand..." Said Bazza, firing off another shot.

Sonic kicked the antennae off the Dolls head, then kicked into a crowd, forcing several more to explode.

"I keep forgetting about it..." Sonic said, chuckling nervously, then punching a doll in face.

Bazza sweat-dropped and reloaded. "You might be able to disable the force field with it. Give it a try."

Why didn't he think about it before? After spindashing several more Tails Dolls, Bazza disengaged her Bazooka once more as quick as she could as more and more Tails Dolls came from above. Using her two laser pistols, she started shooting them in improper sequences.

"Surely you all have HELL to attend to..." She boasted as Bazza flipped forward, knocking two antennae off the heads with her feet, rolling out of the way as the two claimed several others in the blast. "You could be dolling it up there as the devils plaything!"

Sonic hopped on heads to get to the tube. Despite not using the Chaos Emerald just yet, everything dragged on as each second became five and five seconds became twenty. He forced the Emerald into the force-field, placing his energy through his arms and struggling to break through the barrier. Series of images flashed in his mind otherwise, they were too far for Sonic to have a good look at them, but mostly splashed bloody images that he did no worry or bother to interpret. He grinded his teeth, then screamed as he put all of his strength to finally smash the force field surrounding the tube.

Standing back, Sonic got into position and immediantly rolled into what he hoped to be the final spindash as Bazza flew around to Sonic's area and started shooting like mad, screaming out bad Doll and hell puns as she obliverated each one. She was enjoying this too much. As soon as Sonic collided with the tube, it smashed into pieces, with the ambient green fluid splashing out everywhere. Sonic slid to the other side and spun around to run back and grab Olly's body without a second thought. More and more Dolls surrounded them.

"You have to wake her up! Do it!" Bazza screamed with strain.

Sonic held Olly in his arms. He could take her helmet off to give her mouth to mouth...but...

"Come on...you have to wake up! We gotta get out of here!" He pleaded to her. Still no movement.

"Olly! Please!"

The Violet Wisp suddenly reappeared above her head and circled around Sonic, before flying over to a distance and creating another door. The environment went from bad, to worse as lava seeped from the runes on the ceiling, hitting Bazza on the shoulder and searing her suit.

"Bazza!" Sonic yelled. He picked up Olly in his arms as he stood up.

"I'm okay!" Bazza confirmed. She turned her head to see the door the Violet Wisp had formed and ran over the same time as Sonic did. Bazza followed Sonic through and kept her eyes on the swarm of Dolls and shot at few before fleeing.

Needing to find their way back to the portal, Sonic bursted forward with his super speed, with Bazza barely keeping up. She looked around as the ARK's architecture merged with the black and white visionary. It couldn't be coming from Sonic's psyche, as Bazza found it awfully strange as well. It was possible that it was coming from Olly instead. The ARK's walls became magma with Abbadonian writing. Tails Dolls came out of nowhere, but Bazza flew up above Sonic and fired at each of them. All they could do now was hopefully return back to the Portal. But with no proper direction, none of them were getting anywhere as far as they knew, but still tried and ran. It was all they could do for now until they found a recognizable area. If Sonic's theory was true, Olly's mental state affected the ARK in tremendous ways, fearing that she might have been exposed to a high dosage of Abbadonia's Fury. It was then Sonic decided what was going to do next...

_We might be together in life...but we always die alone. But we make due with what we have._

_The single thought that visits our mental houses once in a blue moon makes mention of when, what, how and why will we die. We don't like these visitors, so we call so many others over that it's often lost and forgotten until the day after. It may visit again and again and the persistence of our subconscious to push it out is endless...until it actually happens. There is the conundrum of whether those visits were necessary..._

Pushing forward through more dolls, It came to a point where they hit another dead end. Bazza took a chance and grabbed Sonic as they flew up, Sonic not even realizing that they could ascend. It was to another outer area with a platform transporter. Though it was debatable on whether it was the same one. Regardless, Sonic jumped on to the rails once more as Bazza flew behind.

_Yet again, we can never truly understand life. We can make assumptions and try to prove facts, but what's there to say that even the most solid facts can change over time...change itself, is fact and can be proven to back up the new claims. Within death creates the biggest change of all. It leaves a void. Each void can be easy or quite difficult to refill. When something dies...it's never forgotten. It...no longer grows inside your mind and could be forced to move elsewhere...within the looser depths of the neighborhood and only living in another part of town._

Getting onto the other side and back within the ARK. He used the Ring of Memories to disappear and slow down into the past, Bazza's cry fading into the darkness. He witnessed Tails wandering around the ARK by himself, wondering out aloud. He began following him down a path as jumped and flew around the place, looking for another to get himself back down to Earth. Walking Sonic to another room, being led by a noise that wasn't too dissimilar from the Tails Dolls. Tails stood back and held his nose in the disgusting smells. Sonic could somehow smell it well. Sulfur.

_Maybe..._

The room was now a deep burgundy, more deceptively darker than the usual reds he had been seeing. Tails looked for a switch, before everything went white...

Bazza had grabbed a hold of Sonic and slapped him.

"I'm usually a happy person, but what you're doing makes me angry..." She announced in annoyance.

Sonic was even disappointed in himself. "I'm sorry...it's just..."

Bazza shook her head. "Never mind. It's just that I'm concerned about Olly. Once we get her to the infirmary, I'll get Drainer to have a better look."

With that, they ran off again, but Sonic made sure he never forgot that room. It seemed like Tails was led to it on purpose. Those strange sounds...he definitely knew what he had to do now.

* * *

 

After ten minutes of more running around, they finally made it back to Portal Room. Sonic checked Olly's bag for her Amberite and gave it to Bazza, who gave him a look.

"Why are you giving this to me?" She asked, confused.

Sonic refused to respond as he gave her Olly to hold as well.

"You take her. I've got things to do." Sonic finally replied.

Bazza waved her hands passively. "Woah woah woah...hold on there Sonic...I will hold Olly for you..." She said, making another bad pun. "But I should come with you. We can both save Tails together."

Sonic sighed and looked down. "No...I'll do it. I can trust you can take care of Olly for more than I can."

Bazza looked at Sonic...if he could see her face she would be frowning. After a moment of silence, she turned to the Portal and activated it. Putting the Amberite in her bumbag, Bazza took Olly from Sonic and gave him one last nod, while he did the same with a smile and a thumbs up, giving a sense of sure-ness and confirmation. Bazza faced the other and disappeared into the amber fluid.

* * *

 

Now alone on the ARK with potentially hundreds of Tails Dolls, Sonic was glad. The one important task he had to do now was save his best friend. He got out of the Portal Room and held onto the Ring tight in case he needed it again. Taking a deep breath, Sonic followed the path in which they'd come from earlier. He burst a few more Dolls along the way, but not as many as there were before. Perhaps what ever they were trying to protect was gone now. Olly could have had some importance to the game this possessed Tails was playing. Baring no ill will for his friend, he became determined to get him out of his state and back into reality. What ever that was...

He came back to the room Tails had walked into. The door was closed, and locked by the look of things. Sonic started pounding his fists like crazy, before kicking the door down with fierce force. The room was still dark, bloody red like before. He walked in with all confidence and a smirk.

"Well, I'm here now. Where are you so I can hit the ghost out of ya?" Sonic taunted.

A pit made of void expanded before Sonic, not unlike Abbadonia's usual creations. He expect another swarm of demons but was surprised as Tails ascended out, along side a shadow creature that appeared to have nine tails behind it, it's eyes a sparkling crimson...it appeared it's entire body was of a shadowy darkness that streamed out, its ruby spectacles glaring at Sonic. An arm appeared and was raised above Tails head, who shot up.

"We meet at last Mr. Thorn. Properly...and all..alone..." Said Tails. His own voice was overlapped with a demonic one, which didn't surprise Sonic at all.

"Good...I won't be alone when I'm through with you." Sonic boasted.

Tails expression was dull, his eyes still as white as clouds. He was just a puppet as the rest, but the only puppet he cared to the cut strings off of. Sonic sneered.

"So...what's gonna take to get my buddy back?"

It's chuckle was hallow and echoed off the walls.

"I wouldn't mind seeing the pair of you facing it off, fist to fist..." He cackled.

Sonic crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "So...all it takes is to knock him out?"

He wasn't too thrilled with the prospect of exchanging blows with Tails. He didn't want to hurt his best friend, but he'd rather knock him out quickly and get it over and with.

"Sure..."


End file.
